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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2897-0.txt b/2897-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0648353 --- /dev/null +++ b/2897-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7400 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sequel of Appomattox by Walter +Fleming #32 in the Chronicles of America series. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost +no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it +under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this +eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +Title: The Sequel of Appomattox +A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States +Author: Walter Lynwood Fleming +Release Date: January 2, 2009 [EBook #2897] +Last Updated: August 26, 2017 +Character set encoding: utf-8 + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's University, Alev +Akman, David Widger, and Robert Homa. Images were courtesy of the +internet archive. + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX *** + +The Sequel of Appomattox + +Textbook Edition + ∵ +Volume 32 of the +Chronicles of America Series + +Allen Johnson, Editor +Assistant Editors +Gerhard R. Lomer +Charles W. Jefferys + + +The Sequel of Appomattox + +By Walter Lynwood Fleming + +A Chronicle Of the Reunion of the States + + +New Haven: Yale University Press +Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co. +London: Humphrey Milford +Oxford University Press +1919 + + +Copyright, 1919 +by Yale University Press + +Contents. + The Sequel of Appomattox +Chapter Chapter Title Page + I. The Aftermath of War 1 + II. When Freedom Cried Out 34 + III. The Work of the Presidents 54 + IV. The Wards of the Nation 89 + V. The Victory of the Radicals 118 + VI. The Rule of the Major Generals 140 + VII. The Trial of President Johnson 158 +VIII. The Union League of America 174 + IX. Church and School 196 + X. Carpetbag and Negro Rule 221 + XI. The Ku Klux Movement 243 + XII. The Changing South 265 +XIII. Restoration of Home Rule 282 + Bibliographical Note 305 + Index 309 + + + +THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX + +∵ +CHAPTER I. + +The Aftermath of War + +When the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in +1865, two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the negro was +to be free, and the Union was to be perpetuated. But though slavery and +state sovereignty were no longer at issue, there were still many +problems which pressed for solution. The huge task of reconstruction +must be faced. The nature of the situation required that the measures of +reconstruction be first formulated in Washington by the victors and then +worked out in the conquered South. Since the success of these policies +would depend in a large measure upon their acceptability to both +sections of the country, it was expected that the North would be +influenced to some extent by the attitude of the Southern people, which +in turn would be determined largely by local conditions in the South. +The situation in the South at the close of the Civil War is therefore +the point at which this narrative of the reconstruction naturally takes +its beginning. + +The surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities +which were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized +people. Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former +neighbors. They found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized, +and the inhabitants in many places suffering from want. They found the +white people demoralized and sometimes divided among themselves, and the +negroes free, bewildered, and disorderly, for organized government had +lapsed with the surrender of the Confederate armies. + +Beneath a disorganized society lay a devastated land. The destruction of +property affected all classes of the population. The accumulated capital +of the South had disappeared in worthless Confederate stocks, bonds, and +currency. The banks had failed early in the war. Two billion dollars +invested in slaves had been wiped out. Factories which had been running +before the war, or were developed after 1861 in order to supply the +blockaded country, had been destroyed by Federal raiders or seized and +sold or dismantled because they had furnished supplies to the +Confederacy. Mining industries were paralyzed. Public buildings which +had been used for war purposes were destroyed or confiscated for the +uses of the army or for the new freedmen's schools. It was months before +courthouses, state capitols, school and college buildings were again +made available for normal uses. The military school buildings had been +destroyed by the Federal forces. Among the schools which suffered were +the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the +Louisiana State Seminary, and many smaller institutions. Nearly all +these had been used in some way for war purposes and were therefore +subject to destruction or confiscation. + +The farmers and planters found themselves "land poor." The soil +remained, but there was a prevalent lack of labor, of agricultural +equipment, of farm stock, of seeds, and of money with which to make good +the deficiency. As a result, a man with hundreds of acres might be as +poor as a negro refugee. The desolation is thus described by a Virginia +farmer: + +From Harper's Ferry to New Market, which is about eighty miles ... the +country was almost a desert.... We had no cattle, hogs, sheep, or horse +or anything else. The fences were all gone. Some of the orchards were +very much injured, but the fruit trees had not been destroyed. The barns +were all burned; chimneys standing without houses, and houses standing +without roof, or door, or window. + +Much land was thrown on the market at low prices--three to five dollars +an acre for land worth fifty dollars. The poorer lands could not be sold +at all, and thousands of farms were deserted by their owners. Everywhere +recovery from this agricultural depression was slow. Five years after +the war Robert Somers, an English traveler, said of the Tennessee +Valley: + +It consists for the most part of plantations in a state of semi-ruin and +plantations of which the ruin is for the present total and complete.... +The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burnt-up +gin-houses, ruined bridges, mills, and factories ... and in large tracts +of once cultivated land stripped of every vestige of fencing. The roads, +long neglected, are in disorder, and having in many places become +impassable, new tracks have been made through the woods and fields +without much respect to boundaries. + +Similar conditions existed wherever the armies had passed, and not in +the country districts alone. Many of the cities, such as Richmond, +Charleston, Columbia, Jackson, Atlanta, and Mobile had suffered from +fire or bombardment. + +There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, +and Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of +Southern merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again. +Long before 1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through +the blockade. That there was a great need of supplies from the outside +world is shown by the following statement of General Boynton: + +Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in the +cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for +four years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers +have tin handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and in very +few families is there enough to set a table.... A set of forks with +whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all +stopped.... Hair brushes and tooth brushes have all worn out; combs are +broken.... Pins, needles, and thread, and a thousand such articles, +which seem indispensable to housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in +weaving on the looms, corncobs have been substituted for spindles. Few +have pocket knives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an +article of sale at the South is wanting now. At the tables of those who +were once esteemed luxurious providers you will find neither tea, +coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some cases, have +been replaced by a cup of grease in which a piece of cloth is plunged +for a wick. + +This poverty was prolonged and rendered more acute by the lack of +transportation. Horses, mules, wagons, and carriages were scarce, the +country roads were nearly impassable, and bridges were in bad repair or +had been burned or washed away. Steamboats had almost disappeared from +the rivers. Those which had escaped capture as blockade runners had been +subsequently destroyed or were worn out. Postal facilities, which had +been poor enough during the last year of the Confederacy, were entirely +lacking for several months after the surrender. + +The railways were in a state of physical dilapidation little removed +from destruction, save for those that had been captured and kept in +partial repair by the Federal troops. The rolling stock had been lost by +capture, by destruction to prevent capture, in wrecks, which were +frequent, or had been worn out. The railroad companies possessed large +sums in Confederate currency and in securities which were now valueless. +About two-thirds of all the lines were hopelessly bankrupt. Fortunately, +the United States War Department took over the control of the railway +lines and in some cases effected a temporary reorganization which could +not have been accomplished by the bankrupt companies. During the summer +and fall of 1865 "loyal" boards of directors were appointed for most of +the roads, and the army withdrew its control. But repairs and +reconstruction were accomplished with difficulty because of the +demoralization of labor and the lack of funds or credit. Freight was +scarce and, had it not been for government shipments, some of the +railroads would have been abandoned. Not many people were able to +travel. It is recorded that on one trip from Montgomery to Mobile and +return, a distance of 360 miles, the railroad which is now the +Louisville and Nashville collected only thirteen dollars in fares. + +Had there been unrestricted commercial freedom in the South in 1865-66, +the distress of the people would have been somewhat lessened, for here +and there were to be found public and private stores of cotton, tobacco, +rice, and other farm products, all of which were bringing high prices in +the market. But for several months the operation of wartime laws and +regulations hindered the distribution of even these scanty stores. +Property upon which the Confederate Government had a claim was of course +subject to confiscation, and private property offered for sale, even +that of Unionists, was subject to a 25 per cent tax on sales, a shipping +tax, and a revenue tax. The revenue tax on cotton, ranging from two to +three cents a pound during the three years after the war, brought in +over $68,000,000. This tax, with other Federal revenues, yielded much +more than the entire expenses of reconstruction from 1865 to 1868 and of +all relief measures for the South, both public and private. After May, +1865, the 25 per cent tax was imposed only upon the produce of slave +labor. None of the war taxes, except that on cotton, was levied upon the +crops of 1866, but while these taxes lasted they seriously impeded the +resumption of trade. + +Even these restrictions, however, might have been borne if only they had +been honestly applied. Unfortunately, some of the most spectacular +frauds ever perpetrated were carried through in connection with the +attempt of the United States Treasury Department to collect and sell the +confiscable property in the South. The property to be sold consisted of +what had been captured and seized by the army and the navy, of +"abandoned" property, as such was called whose owner was absent in the +Confederate service, and of property subject to seizure under the +confiscation acts of Congress. No captures were made after the general +surrender, and no further seizures of "abandoned" property were made +after Johnson's amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865. This left only the +"confiscable" property to be collected and sold. + +For collection purposes the States of the South were divided into +districts, each under the supervision of an agent of the Treasury +Department, who received a commission of about 25 per cent. Cotton, +regarded as the root of the slavery evil, was singled out as the +principal object of confiscation. It was known that the Confederate +Government had owned in 1865 about 150,000 bales, but the records were +defective and much of it, with no clear indication of ownership, still +remained with the producers. Secretary Chase, foreseeing the difficulty +of effecting a just settlement, counseled against seizure, but his +judgment was overruled. Secretary McCulloch said of his agents: "I am +sure I sent some honest cotton agents South; but it sometimes seems +doubtful whether any of them remained honest very long." Some of the +natives, even, became cotton thieves. In a report made in 1866, +McCulloch describes their methods: + +Contractors, anxious for gain, were sometimes guilty of bad faith and +peculation, and frequently took possession of cotton and delivered it +under contracts as captured or abandoned, when in fact it was not such, +and they had no right to touch it.... Residents and others in the +districts where these peculations were going on took advantage of the +unsettled condition of the country, and representing themselves as +agents of this department, went about robbing under such pretended +authority, and thus added to the difficulties of the situation by +causing unjust opprobrium and suspicion to rest upon officers engaged in +the faithful discharge of their duties. Agents, ... frequently received +or collected property, and sent it forward which the law did not +authorize them to take.... Lawless men, singly and in organized bands, +engaged in general plunder; every species of intrigue and peculation and +theft were resorted to. + +These agents turned over to the United States about $34,000,000. About +40,000 claimants were subsequently indemnified on the ground that the +property taken from them did not belong to the Confederate Government, +but many thousands of other claimants have been unable to prove that +their property was seized by government agents and hence have received +nothing. It is probable that the actual Confederate property was nearly +all stolen by the agents. One agent in Alabama sold an appointment as +assistant for $25,000, and a few months later both the assistant and the +agent were tried by a military court for stealing and were fined $90,000 +and $250,000 respectively in addition to being imprisoned. + +Other property, including horses, mules, wagons, tobacco, rice, and +sugar which the natives claimed as their own, was seized. In some places +the agents even collected delinquent Confederate taxes. Much of the +confiscable property was not sold but was turned over to the Freedmen's +Bureau ¹ for its support. The total amount seized cannot be +satisfactorily ascertained. The Ku Klux minority report asserted that +3,000,000 bales of cotton were taken, of which the United States +received only 114,000. It is certain that, owing to the deliberate +destruction of cotton by fire in 1864-65, this estimate was too high, +but all the testimony points to the fact that the frauds were +stupendous. As a result the United States Government did not succeed in +obtaining the Confederate property to which it had a claim, and the +country itself was stripped of necessities to a degree that left it not +only destitute but outraged and embittered. "Such practices," said +Trowbridge, "had a pernicious effect, engendering a contempt for the +Government and a murderous ill-will which too commonly vented itself +upon soldiers and negroes." + +¹ See pp. 89 et seq. + +The South faced the work of reconstruction not only with a shortage of +material and greatly hampered in the employment even of that but still +more with a shortage of men. The losses among the whites are usually +estimated at about half the military population, but since accurate +records are lacking the exact numbers cannot be ascertained. The best of +the civil leaders, as well as the prominent military leaders, had so +committed themselves to the support of the Confederacy as to be excluded +from participation in any reconstruction that might be attempted. The +business of reconstruction, therefore, fell of necessity to the +Confederate private soldiers, the lower officers, nonparticipants, and +lukewarm individuals who had not greatly compromised themselves. These +politically and physically uninjured survivors included also all the +"slackers" of the Confederacy. But though there were such physical and +moral losses on the part of those to whom fell the direction of affairs +there was also a moral strengthening in the sound element of the people +who had been tried by the discipline of war. + +The greatest weakness of both races was their extreme poverty. The crops +of 1865 turned out badly, for most of the soldiers reached home too late +for successful planting and the negro labor was not dependable. The sale +of such cotton and farm products as had escaped the treasury agents was +of some help, but curiously enough much of the good money thus obtained +was spent extravagantly by a people used to Confederate rag money and +for four years deprived of the luxuries of life. The poorer whites who +had lost all were close to starvation. In the white counties which had +sent so large a proportion of men to the army the destitution was most +acute. In many families the breadwinner had been killed in war. After +1862 relief systems had been organized in nearly all the Confederate +States for the purpose of aiding the poor whites, but these +organizations were disbanded in 1865. A Freedmen's Bureau official +traveling through the desolate back country furnishes a description +which might have applied to two hundred counties, a third of the South: +"It is a common, an every-day sight in Randolph County, that of women +and children, most of whom were formerly in good circumstances, begging +for bread from door to door. Meat of any kind has been a stranger to +many of their mouths for months. The drought cut off what little crops +they hoped to save, and they must have immediate help or perish. By far +the greater suffering exists among the whites. Their scanty supplies +have been exhausted, and now they look to the Government alone for +support. Some are without homes of any description." + +Where the armies had passed, few of the people, white or black, +remained; most of them had been forced as "refugees" within the Union +lines or into the interior of the Confederacy. Now, along with the +disbanded Confederate soldiers, they came straggling back to their +war-swept homes. It was estimated, in December, 1865 that in the States +of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, there were five hundred thousand +white people who were without the necessaries of life; numbers died from +lack of food. Within a few months relief agencies were at work. In the +North, especially in the border States and in New York, charitable +organizations collected and forwarded great quantities of supplies to +the negroes and to the whites in the hill and mountain counties. The +reorganized state and local governments sent food from the unravaged +portions of the Black Belt to the nearest white counties, and the army +commanders gave some aid. As soon as the Freedmen's Bureau was +organized, it fed to the limit of its supplies the needy whites as well +as the blacks. + +The extent of the relief afforded by the charity of the North and by the +agencies of the United States Government is not now generally +remembered, probably on account of the later objectionable activities of +the Freedmen's Bureau, but it was at the time properly appreciated. A +Southern journalist, writing of what he saw in Georgia, remarked that +"it must be a matter of gratitude as well as surprise for our people to +see a Government which was lately fighting us with fire and sword and +shell, now generously feeding our poor and distressed. In the immense +crowds which throng the distributing house, I notice the mothers and +fathers, widows and orphans of our soldiers.... Again, the Confederate +soldier, with one leg or one arm, the crippled, maimed, and broken, and +the worn and destitute men, who fought bravely their enemies then, their +benefactors now, have their sacks filled and are fed." + +Acute distress continued until 1867; after that year there was no +further danger of starvation. Some of the poor whites, especially in the +remote districts, never again reached a comfortable standard of living; +some were demoralized by too much assistance; others were discouraged +and left the South for the West or the North. But the mass of the people +accepted the discipline of poverty and made the best of their situation. + +The difficulties, however, that beset even the courageous and the +competent were enormous. The general paralysis of industry, the breaking +up of society, and poverty on all sides bore especially hard on those +who had not previously been manual laborers. Physicians could get +practice enough but no fees; lawyers who had supported the Confederacy +found it difficult to get back into the reorganized courts because of +the test oaths and the competition of "loyal" attorneys; and for the +teachers there were few schools. We read of officers high in the +Confederate service selling to Federal soldiers the pies and cakes +cooked by their wives, of others selling fish and oysters which they +themselves had caught, and of men and women hitching themselves to plows +when they had no horse or mule. + +Such incidents must, from their nature, have been infrequent, but they +show to what straits some at least were reduced. Six years after the +war, James S. Pike, then in South Carolina, mentions cases which might +be duplicated in nearly every old Southern community: "In the vicinity," +he says, "lived a gentleman whose income when the war broke out was +rated at $150,000 a year. Not a vestige of his whole vast estate remains +today. Not far distant were the estates of a large proprietor and a well +known family, rich and distinguished for generations. The slaves were +gone. The family is gone. A single scion of the house remains, and he +peddles tea by the pound and molasses by the quart, on a corner of the +old homestead, to the former slaves of the family and thereby earns his +livelihood." + +General Lee's good example influenced many. Commercial enterprises were +willing to pay for the use of his name and reputation, but he wished to +farm and could get no opportunity. "They are offering my father +everything," his daughter said, "except the only thing he will accept, a +place to earn honest bread while engaged in some useful work." This +remark led to an offer of the presidency of Washington College, now +Washington and Lee University, which he accepted. "I have a self-imposed +task which I must accomplish," he said, "I have led the young men of the +South in battle; I have seen many of them fall under my standard. I +shall devote my life now to training young men to do their duty in +life." + +The condition of honest folk was still further troubled by a general +spirit of lawlessness in many regions. Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, +and Louisiana recognized the "Union" state government, but the coming of +peace brought legal anarchy to the other States of the Confederacy. The +Confederate state and local governments were abolished as the armies of +occupation spread over the South, and for a period of four or six months +there was no government except that exercised by the commanders of the +military garrisons left behind when the armies marched away. Even before +the surrender the local governments were unable to make their authority +respected, and soon after the war ended parts of the country became +infested with outlaws, pretend treasury agents, horse thieves, cattle +thieves, and deserters. Away from the military posts only lynch law +could cope with these elements of disorder. With the aid of the army in +the more settled regions, and by extra-legal means elsewhere, the +outlaws, thieves, cotton burners, and house burners were brought +somewhat under control even before the state governments were +reorganized, though the embers of lawlessness continued to smolder. + +The relations between the Federal soldiers stationed in the principal +towns and the native white population were not, on the whole, so bad as +might have been expected. If the commanding officer were well disposed, +there was little danger of friction, though sometimes his troops got out +of hand. The regulars had a better reputation than the volunteers. The +Confederate soldiers were surfeited with fighting, but the +"stay-at-home" element was often a cause of trouble. The problem of +social relations between the conquerors and the conquered was +troublesome. The men might get along well together, but the women would +have nothing do with the "Yankees" and ill feeling arose because of +their antipathy. Carl Schurz reported that "the soldier of the Union is +looked upon as a stranger, an intruder, as the 'Yankee,' the 'enemy.'... +The existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those +who have served or are serving in the South to require proof." + +In retaliation the soldiers developed ingenious ways of annoying the +whites. Women, forced for any reason to go to headquarters, were made to +take the oath of allegiance or the "ironclad" oath before their requests +were granted; flags were fastened over doors, gates, or sidewalks in +order to irritate the recalcitrant dames and their daughters. +Confederate songs and color combinations were forbidden. In Richmond, +General Halleck ordered that no marriages be performed unless the bride, +the groom, and the officiating clergyman took the oath of allegiance. He +explained this as a measure taken to prevent "the propagation of +legitimate rebels." + +The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but +by May, 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms. In Tennessee +the State also imposed fines upon wearers of the uniform. In the +vicinity of military posts buttons and marks of rank were usually +ordered removed and the gray clothes dyed with some other color. General +Lee, for example, had the buttons on his coat covered with cloth. But +frequently the Federal commander, after issuing the orders, paid no more +attention to the matter and such conflicts as arose on account of the +uniform were usually caused by officious enlisted men and the negro +troops. Whitelaw Reid relates the following incident: + +Nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than the +almost painful effort of the rebels, from generals down to privates, to +conduct themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to +bring no severer punishment upon the city than it had already received. +There was a brutal scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with a +pair of tailor's shears, insisted on cutting the buttons from the +uniform of an elegant gray-headed old brigadier, who had just come in +from Johnston's army; but he bore himself modestly and very handsomely +through it. His staff was composed of fine-looking, stalwart fellows, +evidently gentlemen, who appeared intensely mortified at such treatment. +They had no clothes except their rebel uniforms, and had, as yet, had no +time to procure others, but they avoided disturbances and submitted to +what they might, with some propriety, and with the general approval of +our officers, have resented. + +The negro troops, even at their best, were everywhere considered +offensive by the native whites. General Grant, indeed, urged that only +white troops be used to garrison the interior. But the negro soldier, +impudent by reason of his new freedom, his new uniform, and his new gun, +was more than Southern temper could tranquilly bear, and race conflicts +were frequent. A New Orleans newspaper thus states the Southern point of +view: "Our citizens who had been accustomed to meet and treat the +negroes only as respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked +to encounter them ... wearing Federal uniforms and bearing bright +muskets and gleaming bayonets.... They are jostled from the sidewalks by +dusky guards, marching four abreast. They were halted, in rude and +sullen tones, by negro sentinels." + +The task of the Federal forces was not easy. The garrisons were not +large enough nor numerous enough to keep order in the absence of civil +government. The commanders in the South asked in vain for cavalry to +police the rural districts. Much of the disorder, violence, and +incendiarism attributed at the time to lawless soldiers appeared later +to be due to discharged soldiers and others pretending to be soldiers in +order to carry out schemes of robbery. The whites complained vigorously +of the garrisons, and petitions were sent to Washington from mass +meetings and from state legislatures asking for their removal. The +higher commanders, however, bore themselves well, and in a few fortunate +cases Southern whites were on most amicable terms with the garrison +commanders. The correspondence of responsible military officers in the +South shows how earnestly and considerately each, as a rule, tried to +work out his task. The good sense of most of the Federal officers +appeared when, after the murder of Lincoln, even General Grant for a +brief space lost his head and ordered the arrest of paroled +Confederates. + +The church organizations were as much involved in the war and in the +reconstruction as were secular institutions. Before the war every +religious organization having members North and South, except the +Catholic Church and the Jews, had separated into independent Northern +and Southern bodies. In each section church feeling ran high, and when +the war came the churches supported the armies. As the Federal armies +occupied Southern territory, the church buildings of each denomination +were turned over to the corresponding Northern body, and Southern +ministers were permitted to remain only upon agreeing to conduct "loyal +services, pray for the President of the United States and for Federal +victories" and to foster "loyal sentiment." The Protestant Episcopal +churches in Alabama were closed from September to December, 1865, and +some congregations were dispersed by the soldiers because Bishop Wilmer +had directed his clergy to omit the prayer for President Davis but had +substituted no other. The ministers of non-liturgical churches were not +so easily controlled. A Georgia Methodist preacher directed by a Federal +officer to pray for the President said afterwards: "I prayed for the +President that the Lord would take out of him and his allies the hearts +of beasts and put into them the hearts of men or remove the cusses from +office." Sometimes members of a congregation showed their resentment at +the "loyal" prayers by leaving the church. But in spite of many +irritations both sides frequently managed to get some amusement out of +the "loyal" services. The church situation was, however, a serious +matter during and after the reconstruction, and some of its later phases +will have to be discussed elsewhere. + +The Unionist, or "Tory," of the lower and eastern South found himself, +in 1865, a man without a country. Few in number in any community, they +found themselves upon their return from a harsh exile the victims of +ostracism or open hostility. One of them, William H. Smith, later +Governor of Alabama, testified that the Southern people "manifest the +most perfect contempt for a man who is known to be an unequivocal Union +man; they call him a 'galvanized Yankee' and apply other terms and +epithets to him." General George H. Thomas, speaking of a region more +divided in sentiment than Alabama, remarked that "Middle Tennessee is +disturbed by animosities and hatreds, much more than it is by the +disloyalty of persons towards the Government of the United States. Those +personal animosities would break out and overawe the civil authorities, +but for the presence there of the troops of the United States.... They +are more unfriendly to Union men, natives of the State of Tennessee, or +of the South, who have been in the Union army, than they are to men of +Northern birth." + +In the border States society was sharply divided and feeling was bitter. +In eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts of +Arkansas and Missouri returning Confederates met harsher treatment than +did the Unionists in the lower South. Trowbridge says of east Tennessee: +"Returning rebels were robbed; and if one had stolen unawares to his +home, it was not safe for him to remain there. I saw in Virginia one of +these exiles, who told me how homesickly he pined for the hills and +meadows of east Tennessee, which he thought the most delightful region +in the world. But there was a rope hanging from a tree for him there, +and he dared not go back. 'The bottom rails are on top,' said he, 'that +is the trouble.' The Union element, and the worst part of the Union +element, was uppermost." Confederates and Confederate sympathizers in +Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky were disfranchised. In +West Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, "war trespass" suits were +brought against returning Confederates for military acts done in war +time. In Missouri and West Virginia strict test oaths excluded +Confederates from office, from the polls, and from the professions of +teaching, preaching, and law. On the other hand in central and western +Kentucky the predominant Unionist population, themselves suffering +through the abolition of slavery, and by the objectionable operations of +the Freedmen's Bureau and the unwise military administration, showed +more sympathy for the Confederates, welcomed them home, and soon +relieved them of all restrictions. + +Still another element of discord was added by the Northerners who came +to exploit the South. Many mustered-out soldiers proposed to stay. +Speculators of all kinds followed the withdrawing Confederate lines and +with the conclusion of peace spread through the country; but they were +not cordially received. With the better class, the Southerners, +especially the soldiers, associated freely if seldom intimately. But the +conduct of a few of their number who considered that the war had opened +all doors to them, who very freely expressed their views, gave advice, +condemned old customs, and were generally offensive, did much to bring +all Northerners into disrepute. Tactlessly critical letters published in +Northern papers did not add to their popularity. The few Northern women +felt the ostracism more keenly than did the men. Benjamin C. Truman, an +agent of President Johnson, thus summed up the situation: "There is a +prevalent disposition not to associate too freely with Northern men or +to receive them into the circles of society; but it is far from +unsurmountable. Over Southern society, as over every other, woman reigns +supreme, and they are more embittered against those whom they deem the +authors of all their calamities than are their brothers, sons, and +husbands." But of the thousands of Northern men who overcame the +reluctance of the Southerners to social intercourse little was heard. +Many a Southern planter secured a Northern partner, or sold him half his +plantation to get money to run the other half. For the irritations of +1865 each party must take its share of responsibility. + +Had the South assisted in a skillful and adequate publicity, much +disastrous misunderstanding might have been avoided. The North knew as +little of the South as the South did of the North, but the North was +eager for news. Able newspaper correspondents like Sidney Andrews of the +Boston Advertiser and the Chicago Tribune, who opposed President +Johnson's policies, Thomas W. Knox of the New York Herald, who had given +General Sherman so much trouble in Tennessee, Whitelaw Reid, who wrote +for several papers and tried cotton planting in Louisiana, and John T. +Trowbridge, New England author and journalist, were dispatched +southwards. Chief of the President's investigators was General Carl +Schurz, German revolutionist, Federal soldier, and soon to be radical +Republican, who held harsh views of the Southern people; and there were +besides Harvey M. Watterson, Kentucky Democrat and Unionist, the father +of "Marse" Henry; Benjamin C. Truman, New England journalist and +soldier, whose long report was perhaps the best of all; Chief Justice +Chase, who was thinking mainly of "How soon can the negro vote?"; and +General Grant, who made a report so brief that, notwithstanding its +value, it attracted little attention. In addition, a constant stream of +information and misinformation was going northward from treasury agents, +officers of the army, the Freedmen's Bureau, teachers, and missionaries. +Among foreigners who described the conquered land were Robert Somers, +Henry Latham, and William Hepworth Dixon. But few in the South realized +the importance of supplying the North with correct information about +actual conditions. The letters and reports, they thought, humiliated +them; inquiry was felt to be prying and gloating. "Correspondents have +added a new pang to surrender," it was said. The South was proud and +refused to be catechized. From the Northern point of view the South, a +new and strange region, with strange customs and principles, was of +course not to be considered as quite normal and American, but there was +on the part of many correspondents a determined attempt to describe +things as they were. And yet the North persisted in its unsympathetic +queries when it seemed to have a sufficient answer in the reports of +Grant, Schurz, and Truman. + +Grant's opinion was short and direct: "I am satisfied that the mass of +thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in +good faith.... The citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return +to self-government within the Union as soon as possible." Truman came to +the conclusion that "the rank and file of the disbanded Southern army +... are the backbone and sinew of the South.... To the disbanded +regiments of the rebel army, both officers and men, I look with great +confidence as the best and altogether the most hopeful element of the +South, the real basis of reconstruction and the material of worthy +citizenship." General John Tarbell, before the Joint Committee on +Reconstruction, testified that "there are, no doubt, disloyal and +disorderly persons in the South, but it is an entire mistake to apply +these terms to a whole people. I would as soon travel alone, unarmed, +through the South as through the North. The South I left is not at all +the South I hear and read about in the North. From the sentiment I hear +in the North, I would scarcely recognize the people I saw, and, except +their politics, I liked so well. I have entire faith that the better +classes are friendly to the negroes." + +Carl Schurz on the other hand was not so favorably impressed. "The +loyalty of the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people," +he said, "consists in submission to necessity. There is, except in +individual instances, an entire absence of that national spirit which +forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism." Another government +official in Florida was quite doubtful of the Southern whites. "I would +pin them down at the point of the bayonet," he declared, "so close that +they would not have room to wiggle, and allow intelligent colored people +to go up and vote in preference to them. The only Union element in the +South proper ... is among the colored people. The whites will treat you +very kindly to your face, but they are deceitful. I have often thought, +and so expressed myself, that there is so much deception among the +people of the South since the rebellion, that if an earthquake should +open and swallow them up, I was fearful that the devil would be +dethroned and some of them take his place." + +The point of view of the Confederate military leaders was exhibited by +General Wade Hampton in a letter to President Johnson and by General Lee +in his advice to Governor Letcher of Virginia. General Hampton wrote: +"The South unequivocally 'accepts the situation' in which she is placed. +Everything that she has done has been done in perfect faith, and in the +true and highest sense of the word, she is loyal. By this I mean that +she intends to abide by the laws of the land honestly, to fulfill all +her obligations faithfully and to keep her word sacredly, and I assert +that the North has no right to demand more of her. You have no right to +ask, or expect that she will at once profess unbounded love to that +Union from which for four years she tried to escape at the cost of her +best blood and all her treasures." General Lee in order to set an +example applied through General Grant for a pardon under the amnesty +proclamation and soon afterwards he wrote to Governor Letcher: "All +should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to +restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the +country; promote harmony and good-feeling; qualify themselves to vote; +and elect to the State and general legislatures wise and patriotic men, +who will devote their abilities to the interests of the country and the +healing of all dissensions; I have invariably recommended this course +since the cessation of hostilities, and have endeavored to practice it +myself." + +Southerners of the Confederacy everywhere, then, accepted the +destruction of slavery and the renunciation of state sovereignty; they +welcomed an early restoration of the Union, without any punishment of +leaders of the defeated cause. But they were proud of their Confederate +records though now legally "loyal" to the United States; they considered +the negro as free but inferior, and expected to be permitted to fix his +status in the social organization and to solve the problem of free labor +in their own way. To embarrass the easy and permanent realization of +these views there was a society disrupted, economically prostrate, +deprived of its natural leaders, subjected to a control not always +wisely conceived nor effectively exercised, and, finally, containing +within its own population unassimilated elements which presented +problems fraught with difficulty and danger. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +When Freedom Cried Out + +The negro is the central figure in the reconstruction of the South. +Without the negro there would have been no Civil War. Granting a war +fought for any other cause, the task of reconstruction would, without +him, have been comparatively simple. With him, however, reconstruction +meant more than the restoring of shattered resources; it meant the more +or less successful attempt to obtain and secure for the freedman civil +and political rights, and to improve his economic and social status. In +1861 the American negro was everywhere an inferior, and most of his race +were slaves; in 1865 he was no longer a slave, but whether he was to be +serf, ward, or citizen was an unsettled problem; in 1868 he was in the +South the legal and political equal, frequently the superior, of the +white; and before the end of the reconstruction period he was made by +the legislation of some States and by Congress the legal equal of the +white even in certain social matters. + +The race problem which confronted the American people had no parallel in +the past. British and Spanish-American emancipation of slaves had +affected only small numbers or small regions, in which one race greatly +outnumbered the other. The results of these earlier emancipations of the +negroes and the difficulties of European states in dealing with subject +white populations were not such as to afford helpful example to American +statesmen. But since it was the actual situation in the Southern States +rather than the experience of other countries which shaped the policies +adopted during reconstruction, it is important to examine with some care +the conditions in which the negroes in the South found themselves at the +close of the war. + +The negroes were not all helpless and without experience "when freedom +cried out." ¹ In the Border States and in the North there were, in 1861, +half a million free negroes accustomed to looking out for themselves. +Nearly 200,000 negro men were enlisted in the United States army between +1862 and 1865, and many thousands of slaves had followed raiding Federal +forces to freedom or had escaped through the Confederate lines. State +emancipation in Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia, and Tennessee, and +the practical application of the Emancipation Proclamation where the +Union armies were in control ended slavery for many thousands more. +Wherever the armies marched, slavery ended. This was true even in +Kentucky, where the institution was not legally abolished until the +adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment. Altogether more than a million +negroes were free and to some extent habituated to freedom before May, +1865. + +¹ A negro phrase much used in referring to emancipation. + +Most of these war-emancipated negroes were scattered along the borders +of the Confederacy, in camps, in colonies, in the towns, on refugee +farms, at work with the armies, or serving as soldiers in the ranks. +There were large working colonies along the Atlantic coast from Maryland +to Florida. The chief centers were near Norfolk, where General Butler +was the first to establish a "contraband" camp, in North Carolina, and +on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which had +been seized by the Federal fleet early in the war. To the Sea Islands +also were sent, in 1865, the hordes of negroes who had followed General +Sherman out of Georgia and South Carolina. Through the Border States +from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and along both sides of the +Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, there were other +refugee camps, farms, and colonies. For periods varying from one to four +years these free negroes had been at work, often amid conditions highly +unfavorable to health, under the supervision of officers of the Treasury +Department or of the army. + +Emancipation was therefore a gradual process, and most of the negroes, +through their widening experience on the plantations, with the armies, +and in the colonies, were better fitted for freedom in 1865 than they +had been in 1861. Even their years of bondage had done something for +them, for they knew how to work and they had adopted in part the +language, habits, religion, and morals of the whites. But slavery had +not made them thrifty, self-reliant, or educated. Frederick Douglass +said of the negro at the end of his servitude: "He had none of the +conditions of self-preservation or self-protection. He was free from the +individual master, but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet. +He was free from the old quarter that once gave him shelter, but a slave +to the rains of summer and to the frosts of winter. He was turned loose, +naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky." + +To prove that he was free the negro thought he must leave his old +master, change his name, quit work for a time, perhaps get a new wife, +and hang around the Federal soldiers in camp or garrison, or go to the +towns where the Freedmen's Bureau was in process of organization. To the +negroes who remained at home--and, curiously enough, for a time at least +many did so--the news of freedom was made known somewhat ceremonially by +the master or his representative. The negroes were summoned to the "big +house," told that they were free, and advised to stay on for a share of +the crop. The description by Mrs. Clayton, the wife of a Southern +general, will serve for many: "My husband said, 'I think it best for me +to inform our negroes of their freedom.' So he ordered all the grown +slaves to come to him, and told them they no longer belonged to him as +property, but were all free. 'You are not bound to remain with me any +longer, and I have a proposition to make to you. If any of you desire to +leave, I propose to furnish you with a conveyance to move you, and with +provisions for the balance of the year.' The universal answer was, +'Master, we want to stay right here with you.' In many instances the +slaves were so infatuated with the idea of being, as they said, 'free as +birds' that they left their homes and consequently suffered; but our +slaves were not so foolish." ¹ + +¹ Black and White under the Old Régime, p. 152, + +The negroes, however, had learned of their freedom before their old +masters returned from the war; they were aware that the issues of the +war involved in some way the question of their freedom or servitude, and +through the "grape vine telegraph," the news brought by the invading +soldiers, and the talk among the whites, they had long been kept fairly +well informed. What the idea of freedom meant to the negroes it is +difficult to say. Some thought that there would be no more work and that +all would be cared for by the Government; others believed that education +and opportunity were about to make them the equal of their masters. The +majority of them were too bewildered to appreciate anything except the +fact that they were free from enforced labor. + +Conditions were most disturbed in the so-called "Black Belt," consisting +of about two hundred counties in the most fertile parts of the South, +where the plantation system was best developed and where by far the +majority of the negroes were segregated. The negroes in the four hundred +more remote and less fertile "white" counties, which had been less +disturbed by armies, were not so upset by freedom as those of the Black +Belt, for the garrisons and the larger towns, both centers of +demoralization, were in or near the Black Belt. But there was a moving +to and fro on the part of those who had escaped from the South or had +been captured during the war or carried into the interior of the South +to prevent capture. To those who left slavery and home to find freedom +were added those who had found freedom and were now trying to get back +home or to get away from the negro camps and colonies which were +breaking up. A stream of immigration which began to flow to the +southwest affected negroes as far as the Atlantic coast. In the +confusion of moving, families were broken up, and children, wife, or +husband were often lost to one another. The very old people and the +young children were often left behind for the former master to care for. +Regiments of negro soldiers were mustered out in every large town and +their numbers were added to the disorderly mass. Some of the Federal +garrisons and Bureau stations were almost overwhelmed by the numbers of +blacks who settled down upon them waiting for freedom to bestow its full +measure of blessing, and many of the negroes continued to remain in a +demoralized condition until the new year. + +The first year of freedom was indeed a year of disease, suffering, and +death. Several partial censuses indicate that in 1865-66 the negro +population lost as many by disease as the whites had lost in war. +Ill-fed, crowded in cabins near the garrisons or entirely without +shelter, and unaccustomed to caring for their own health, the blacks who +were searching for freedom fell an easy prey to ordinary diseases and to +epidemics. Poor health conditions prevailed for several years longer. In +1870 Robert Somers remarked that "the health of the whites has greatly +improved since the war, while the health of the negroes has declined +till the mortality of the colored population, greater than the mortality +of the whites was before the war, has now become so markedly greater, +that nearly two colored die for every white person out of equal numbers +of each." + +Morals and manners also suffered under the new dispensation. In the +crowded and disease-stricken towns and camps, the conditions under which +the roving negroes lived were no better for morals than for health, for +here there were none of the restraints to which the blacks had been +accustomed and which they now despised as being a part of their +servitude. But in spite of all the relief that could be given there was +much want. In fact, to restore former conditions the relief agencies +frequently cut off supplies in order to force the negroes back to work +and to prevent others from leaving the country for the towns. But the +hungry freedmen turned to the nearest food supply, and "spilin de +gypshuns" (despoiling the Egyptians, as the negroes called stealing from +the whites) became an approved means of support. Thefts of hogs, cattle, +poultry, field crops, and vegetables drove almost to desperation those +whites who lived in the vicinity of the negro camps. When the ex-slave +felt obliged to go to town, he was likely to take with him a team and +wagon and his master's clothes if he could get them. + +The former good manners of the negro were now replaced by impudence and +distrust. There were advisers among the negro troops and other agitators +who assured them that politeness to whites was a mark of servitude. +Pushing and crowding in public places, on street cars and on the +sidewalks, and impudent speeches everywhere marked generally the limit +of rudeness. And the negroes were, in this respect, perhaps no worse +than those European immigrants who act upon the principle that bad +manners are a proof of independence. + +The year following emancipation was one of religious excitement for +large numbers of the blacks. Before 1865 the negro church members were +attached to white congregations or were organized into missions, with +nearly always a white minister in charge and a black assistant. With the +coming of freedom the races very soon separated in religious matters. +For this there were two principal reasons: the negro preachers could +exercise more influence in independent churches; and new church +organizations from the North were seeking negro membership. Sometimes +negro members were urged to insist on the "to sit together" with the +whites. In a Richmond church a negro from the street pushed his way to +the communion altar and knelt. There was a noticeable pause; then +General Robert E. Lee went forward and knelt beside the negro; and the +congregation followed his example. But this was a solitary instance. +When the race issue was raised by either color, the church membership +usually divided. There was much churchgoing by the negroes, day and +night, and church festivities and baptisms were common. The blacks +preferred immersion and wanted a new baptism each time they changed to a +new church. Baptizings in ponds, creeks, or rivers were great occasions +and were largely attended. "Shouting" the candidates went into the water +and "shouting" they came out. One old woman came up screaming, "Freed +from slavery! freed from sin! Bless God and General Grant!" + +In the effort to realize their new-found freedom, the negroes were +heavily handicapped by their extreme poverty and their ignorance. The +total value of free negro property ran up into the millions in 1860, but +the majority of the negroes had nothing. There were a few educated +negroes in the South, and more in the North and in Canada, but the mass +of the race was too densely ignorant to furnish its own leadership. The +case, however, was not hopeless; the negro was able to work and in large +territories had little competition; wages were high, even though paid in +shares of the crop; the cost of living was low; and land was cheap. +Thousands seemed thirsty for an education and crowded the schools which +were available. It was too much, however, to expect the negro to take +immediate advantage of his opportunities. What he wanted was a long +holiday, a gun and a dog, and plenty of hunting and fishing. He must +have Saturday at least for a trip to town or to a picnic or a circus; he +did not wish to be a servant. When he had any money, swindlers reaped a +harvest. They sold him worthless finery, cheap guns, preparations to +bleach the skin or straighten the hair, and striped pegs which, when set +up on the master's plantation, would entitle the purchaser to "40 acres +and a mule." + +The attitude of the negroes' employers not infrequently complicated the +situation which they sought to better. The old masters were, as a rule, +skeptical of the value of free negro labor. Carl Schurz thought this +attitude boded ill for the future: "A belief, conviction, or prejudice, +or whatever you may call it," he said, "so widely spread and apparently +deeply rooted as this, that the negro will not work without physical +compulsion, is certainly calculated to have a very serious influence +upon the conduct of the people entertaining it. It naturally produced a +desire to preserve slavery in its original form as much and as long as +possible ... or to introduce into the new system that element of +physical compulsion which would make the negro work." + +The negro wished to be free to leave his job when he pleased, but, as +Benjamin C. Truman stated in his report to President Johnson, a "result +of the settled belief in the negro's inferiority, and in the necessity +that he should not be left to himself without a guardian, is that in +some sections he is discouraged from leaving his old master. I have +known of planters who considered it an offence against neighborhood +courtesy for another to hire their old hands, and in two instances that +were reported the disputants came to blows over the breach of +etiquette." The new Freedmen's Bureau insisted upon written contracts, +except for day laborers, and this undoubtedly kept many negroes from +working regularly, for they were suspicious of contracts. Besides, the +agitators and the negro troops led them to hope for an eventual +distribution of property. An Alabama planter thus described the +situation in December, 1865: + +They will not work for anything but wages, and few are able to pay +wages. They are penniless but resolute in their demands. They expect to +see all the land divided out equally between them and their old masters +in time to make the next crop. One of the most intelligent black men I +know told me that in a neighboring village, where several hundred blacks +were congregated, he does not think that as many as three made +contracts, although planters are urgent in their solicitations and +offering highest prices for labor they can possibly afford to pay. The +same man informed me that the impression widely prevails that Congress +is about to divide out the lands, and that this impression is given out +by Federal soldiers at the nearest military station. It cannot be +disguised that in spite of the most earnest efforts of their old master +to conciliate and satisfy them, the estrangement between races increases +in its extent and bitterness. Nearly all the negro men are armed with +repeaters, and many of them carry them openly, day and night. + +The relations between the races were better, however, than conditions +seemed to indicate. The whites of the Black Belt were better disposed +toward the negroes than were those of the white districts. It was in the +towns and villages that most of the race conflicts occurred. All whites +agreed that the negro was inferior, but there were many who were +grateful for his conduct during the war and who wished him well. But +others, the policemen of the towns, the "loyalists," those who had +little but pride of race and the vote to distinguish them from the +blacks, felt no good will toward the ex-slaves. It was Truman's opinion +"not only that the planters are far better friends to the negroes than +the poor whites, but also better than a majority of the Northern men who +go South to rent plantations." John T. Trowbridge, the novelist, who +recorded his impressions of the South after a visit in 1865, was of the +opinion that the Unionists "do not like niggers." "For there is," he +said, "more prejudice against color among the middle and poorer +classes--the Union men of the South who owned few or no slaves--than +among the planters who owned them by scores and hundreds." The reports +of the Freedmen's Bureau are to the same effect. A Bureau agent in +Tennessee testified: "An old citizen, a Union man, said to me, said he, +'I tell you what, if you take away the military from Tennessee, the +buzzards can't eat up the niggers as fast as we'll kill them.'" + +The lawlessness of the negroes in parts of the Black Belt and the +disturbing influences of the black troops, of some officials of the +Bureau, and of some of the missionary teachers and preachers, caused the +whites to fear insurrections and to take measures for protection. Secret +semi-military organizations were formed which later developed into the +Ku Klux orders. When, however, New Year's Day, 1866 passed without the +hoped-for distribution of property the negroes began to settle down. + +At the beginning of the period of reconstruction it seemed possible that +the negro race might speedily fall into distinct economic groups, for +there were some who had property and many others who had the ability and +the opportunity to acquire it; but the later drawing of race lines and +the political disturbances of reconstruction checked this tendency. It +was expected also that the Northern planters who came South in large +numbers in 1865-66 might, by controlling the negro labor and by the use +of more efficient methods, aid in the economic upbuilding of the +country. But they were ignorant of agricultural matters and incapable of +wisely controlling the blacks; and they failed because at one time they +placed too much trust in the negroes and at another treated them too +harshly and expected too much of them. + +The question of negro suffrage was not a live issue in the South until +the middle of 1866. There was almost no talk about it among the negroes; +they did not know what it was. President Lincoln in 1864 and President +Johnson in 1865 had merely mentioned the subject, though Chief Justice +Chase and prominent radical members of Congress, as well as numerous +abolitionists, had framed a negro suffrage platform. But the Southern +whites, considering the matter an impossibility, gave it little +consideration. There was, however, both North and South, a tendency to +see a connection between the freedom of the negroes and their political +rights and thus to confuse civil equality with political and social +privileges. But the great masses of the whites were solidly opposed to +the recognition of negro equality in any form. The poorer whites, +especially the "Unionists" who hoped to develop an opposition party, +were angered by any discussion of the subject. An Alabama "Unionist," M. +J. Saffold, later prominent as a radical politician, declared to the +Joint Committee on Reconstruction: "If you compel us to carry through +universal suffrage of colored men ... it will prove quite an incubus +upon us in the organization of a national union party of white men; it +will furnish our opponents with a very effective weapon of offense +against us." + +There were, however, some Southern leaders of ability and standing who, +by 1866, were willing to consider negro suffrage. These men, among them +General Wade Hampton of South Carolina and Governor Robert Patton of +Alabama, were of the slaveholding class, and they fully counted on being +able to control the negro's vote by methods similar to those actually +put in force a quarter of a century later. The negroes were not as yet +politically organized, were not even interested in politics, and the +master class might reasonably hope to regain control of them. Whitelaw +Reid published an interview with one of the Hamptons which describes the +situation exactly: + +A brother of General Wade Hampton, the South Carolina Hotspur, was on +board. He saw no great objection to negro suffrage, so far as the whites +were concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist +though he was, he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its +effect on the blacks themselves. Hitherto they had in the main, been +modest and respectful, and mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. +But the deference to them likely to be shown by partisans eager for +their votes would have a tendency to uplift them and unbalance them. +Beyond this, no harm would be done the South by negro suffrage. The old +owners would cast the votes of their people almost as absolutely and +securely as they cast their own. If Northern men expected in this way to +build up a northern party in the South, they were gravely mistaken. They +would only be multiplying the power of the old and natural leaders of +Southern politics by giving every vote to a former slave. Heretofore +such men had served their masters only in the fields; now they would do +no less faithful service at the polls. If the North could stand it, the +South could. For himself, he should make no special objection to negro +suffrage as one of the terms of reorganization, and if it came, he did +not think the South would have much cause to regret it. + +To sum up the situation at this time: the negro population at the close +of the war constituted a tremendous problem for those in authority. The +race was free, but without status, without leaders, without property, +and without education. Probably a fourth of them had some experience in +freedom before the Confederate armies surrendered, and the servitude of +the other three millions ended very quickly and without violence. But in +the Black Belt, where the bulk of the black population was to be found, +the labor system was broken up, and for several months the bewildered +freedmen wandered about or remained at home under conditions which were +bad for health, morals, and thrift. The Northern negroes did not furnish +the expected leadership for the race, and the more capable men in the +South showed a tendency to go North. The unsettled state of the negroes +and their expectation of receiving a part of the property of the whites +kept the latter uneasy and furnished the occasion of frequent conflicts. +Not the least of the unsettling influences at work upon the negro +population were the colored troops and the agitators furnished by the +Freedmen's Bureau, the missions, and the Bureau schools. But at the +beginning of the year 1866 the situation appeared to be clearing, and +the social and economic revolution seemed on the way to a quieter ending +than might have been expected. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The Work of the Presidents + +The war ended slavery, but it left the problem of the freed slave; it +preserved the Union in theory, but it left unsolved many delicate +problems of readjustment. Were the seceded States in or out of the +Union? If in the Union, what rights had they? If they were not in the +Union, what was their status? What was the status of the Southern +Unionist, of the ex-Confederate? What punishments should be inflicted +upon the Southern people? What authority, executive or legislative, +should carry out the work of reconstruction? The end of the war brought +with it, in spite of much discussion, no clear answer to these +perplexing questions. + +Unfortunately, American political life, with its controversies over +colonial government, its conflicting interpretations of written +constitutions, and its legally trained statesmen, had by the middle of +the nineteenth century produced a habit of political thought which +demanded the settlement of most governmental matters upon a theoretical +basis. And now in 1865 each prominent leader had his own plan of +reconstruction fundamentally irreconcilable with all the others, because +rigidly theoretical. During the war the powers of the Executive had been +greatly expanded and a legislative reaction was to be expected. The +Constitution called for fresh interpretation in the light of the Civil +War and its results. + +The first theory of reconstruction may be found in the +Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of July, 1861, which declared that the +war was being waged to maintain the Union under the Constitution and +that it should cease when these objects were obtained. This would have +been subscribed to in 1861 by the Union Democrats and by most of the +Republicans, and in 1865 the conquered Southerners would have been glad +to reënter the Union upon this basis; but though in 1865 the resolution +still expressed the views of many Democrats, the majority of Northern +people had moved away from this position. + +The attitude of Lincoln, which in 1865 met the views of a majority of +the Northern people though not of the political leaders, was that "no +State can upon its mere motion get out of the Union," that the States +survived though there might be some doubt about state governments, and +that "loyal" state organizations might be established by a population +consisting largely of ex-Confederates who had been pardoned by the +President and made "loyal" for the future by an oath of allegiance. +Reconstruction was, Lincoln thought, a matter for the Executive to +handle. But that he was not inflexibly committed to any one plan is +indicated by his proclamation after the pocket veto of the Wade-Davis +Bill and by his last speech, in which he declared that the question of +whether the seceded States were in the Union or out of it was "merely a +pernicious abstraction." In addition, Lincoln said: + +We are all agreed that the seceded States, so called, are out of their +proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of +the government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to +again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it is +not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or +even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, +than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly +immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing +the acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations between +these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge +his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from +without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never +having been out of it. + +President Johnson's position was essentially that of Lincoln, but his +attitude toward the working out of the several problems was different. +He maintained that the States survived and that it was the duty of the +Executive to restore them to their proper relations. "The true theory," +said he, "is that all pretended acts of secession were from the +beginning null and void. The States cannot commit treason nor screen +individual citizens who may have committed treason any more than they +can make valid treaties or engage in lawful commerce with any foreign +power. The States attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition +where their vitality was impaired, but not extinguished; their functions +suspended, but not destroyed." Lincoln would have had no severe +punishments inflicted even on leaders, but Johnson wanted to destroy the +"slavocracy," root and branch. Confiscation of estates would, he +thought, be a proper measure. He said on one occasion: "Traitors should +take a back seat in the work of restoration.... My judgment is that he +[a rebel] should be subjected to a severe ordeal before he is restored +to citizenship. Treason should be made odious, and traitors must be +punished and impoverished. Their great plantations must be seized, and +divided into small farms and sold to honest, industrious men." The +violence of Johnson's views subsequently underwent considerable +modification but to the last he held to the plan of executive +restoration based upon state perdurance. Neither Lincoln nor Johnson +favored a change of Southern institutions other than the abolition of +slavery, though each recommended a qualified negro suffrage. + +There were, however, other theories in the field, notably those of the +radical Republican leaders. According to the state-suicide theory of +Charles Sumner, "any vote of secession or other act by which any State +may undertake to put an end to the supremacy of the Constitution within +its territory is inoperative and void against the Constitution, and when +sustained by force it becomes a practical abdication by the State of all +rights under the Constitution, while the treason it involves still +further works an instant forfeiture of all those functions and powers +essential to the continued existence of the State as a body politic, so +that from that time forward the territory falls under the exclusive +jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and the State, being +according to the language of the law felo de se, ceases to exist." +Congress should punish the "rebels" by abolishing slavery, by giving +civil and political rights to negroes, and by educating them with the +whites. + +Not essentially different, but harsher, was Thaddeus Stevens's plans for +treating the South as a conquered foreign province. Let the victors +treat the seceded States "as conquered provinces and settle them with +new men and exterminate or drive out the present rebels as exiles." +Congress in dealing with these provinces was not bound even by the +Constitution, "a bit of worthless parchment," but might legislate as it +pleased in regard to slavery, the ballot, and confiscation. With regard +to the white population he said: "I have never desired bloody +punishments to any great extent. But there are punishments quite as +appalling, and longer remembered, than death. They are more advisable, +because they would reach a greater number. Strip a proud nobility of +their bloated estates; reduce them to a level with plain republicans; +send them forth to labor, and teach their children to enter the +workshops or handle a plow, and you will thus humble the proud +traitors." Stevens and Sumner agreed in reducing the Southern States to +a territorial status. Sumner would then take the principles of the +Declaration of Independence as a guide for Congress, while Stevens would +leave Congress absolute. Neither considered the Constitution as of any +validity in this crisis. + +As a rule the former abolitionists were in 1865 advocates of votes and +lands for the negro, in whose capacity for self-rule they had complete +confidence. The view of Gerrit Smith may be regarded as typical of the +abolitionist position: + +Let the first condition of peace with them be that no people in the +rebel States shall ever lose or gain civil or political rights by reason +of their race or origin. The next condition of peace be that our black +allies in the South--those saviours of our nation--shall share with +their poor white neighbors in the subdivisions of the large landed +estates of the South. Let the only other condition be that the rebel +masses shall not, for say, a dozen years, be allowed access to the +ballot-box, or be eligible to office; and that the like restrictions be +for life on their political and military leaders.... The mass of the +Southern blacks fall, in point of intelligence, but little, if any, +behind the mass of the Southern whites.... In reference to the +qualifications of the voter, men make too much account of the head and +too little of the heart. The ballot-box, like God, says: "Give me your +heart." The best-hearted men are the best qualified to vote; and, in +this light, the blacks, with their characteristic gentleness, patience, +and affectionateness, are peculiarly entitled to vote. We cannot wonder +at Swedenborg's belief that the celestial people will be found in the +interior of Africa; nor hardly can we wonder at the legend that the gods +came down every year to sup with their favorite Africans. + +One of the most statesmanlike proposals was made by Governor John A. +Andrew of Massachusetts. If, forgetting their theories, the +conservatives could have united in support of a restoration conceived in +his spirit, the goal might have been speedily achieved. Andrew demanded +a reorganization, based upon acceptance of the results of the war, but +carried through with the aid of "those who are by their intelligence and +character the natural leaders of their people and who surely will lead +them by and by." These men cannot be kept out forever, said he, for + +the capacity of leadership is a gift, not a device. They whose courage, +talents, and will entitle them to lead, will lead.... If we cannot gain +their support of the just measures needful for the work of safe +reorganization, reorganization will be delusive and full of danger. They +are the most hopeful subjects to deal with. They have the brain and the +experience and the education to enable them to understand ... the +present situation. They have the courage as well as the skill to lead +the people in the direction their judgments point.... Is it consistent +with reason and our knowledge of human nature, to believe the masses of +Southern men able to face about, to turn their backs on those they have +trusted and followed, and to adopt the lead of those who have no +magnetic hold on their hearts or minds? It would be idle to reorganize +by the colored vote. If the popular vote of the white race is not to be +had in favor of the guarantees justly required, then I am in favor of +holding on--just where we are now. I am not in favor of a surrender of +the present rights of the Union to a struggle between a white minority +aided by the freedmen on one hand, against the majority of the white +race on the other. I would not consent, having rescued those states by +arms from Secession and rebellion, to turn them over to anarchy and +chaos. + +The Southerners, Unionists as well as Confederates, had their views as +well, but at Washington these carried little influence. The former +Confederates would naturally favor the plan which promised best for the +white South, and their views were most nearly met by those of President +Lincoln. Although he held that in principle a new Union had arisen out +of the war, as a matter of immediate political expediency he was +prepared to build on the assumption that the old Union still existed. +The Southern Unionists cared little for theories; they wanted the +Confederates punished, themselves promoted to high offices, and the +negro kept from the ballot box. + +Even at the beginning of 1866, it was not too much to hope that the +majority of former Republicans would accept conservative methods, +provided the so-called "fruits of the war" were assured--that is, +equality of civil rights, the guarantee of the United States war debt, +the repudiation of the Confederate debt, the temporary disfranchisement +of the leading Confederates, and some arrangement which would keep the +South from profiting by representation based on the non-voting negro +population. But amid many conflicting policies, none attained to +continuous and compelling authority. + +The plan first put to trial was that of President Lincoln. It was a +definite plan designed to meet actual conditions and, had he lived, he +might have been able to carry it through successfully. Not a theorist, +but an opportunist of the highest type, sobered by years of +responsibility in war time, and fully understanding the precarious +situation in 1865, Lincoln was most anxious to secure an early +restoration of solidarity with as little friction as possible. Better +than most Union leaders he appreciated conditions in the South, the +problem of the races, the weakness of the Southern Unionists, and the +advantage of calling in the old Southern leaders. He was generous and +considerate; he wanted no executions or imprisonments; he wished the +leaders to escape; and he was anxious that the mass of Southerners be +welcomed back without loss of rights. "There is," he declared, "too +little respect for their rights," an unwillingness, in short, to treat +them as fellow citizens. + +This executive policy had been applied from the beginning of the war as +pportunity offered. The President used the army to hold the Border +States in the Union, to aid in "reorganizing" Unionist Virginia and in +establishing West Virginia. The army, used to preserve the Union might +be used also to restore disturbed parts of it to normal condition. +Assuming that the "States" still existed, "loyal" state governments were +the first necessity. By his proclamation of December 8, 1863, Lincoln +suggested a method of beginning the reconstruction: he would pardon any +Confederate, except specified classes of leaders, who took an oath of +loyalty for the future; if as many as ten per cent of the voting +population of 1860, thus made loyal, should establish a state government +the Executive would recognize it. The matter of slavery must, indeed, be +left to the laws and proclamations as interpreted by the courts, but +other institutions should continue as in 1861. + +This plan was inaugurated in four States which had been in part +controlled by the Federal army from nearly the beginning of the war: +Tennessee (1862), Louisiana (1862), Arkansas (1862), and Virginia after +the formation of West Virginia (1863). For each State, Lincoln appointed +a military governor: for Tennessee, Andrew Johnson; for Arkansas, John +S. Phelps; for Louisiana, General Shepley. In Virginia he recognized the +"reorganized" government, which had been transferred to Alexandria when +the new State of West Virginia was formed. The military governors +undertook the slow and difficult work of reorganization, however, with +but slight success owing to the small numbers of Unionists and of +Confederates who would take the oath. But by 1864 "ten per cent" state +governments were established in Arkansas and Louisiana, and progress was +being made in Tennessee. + +Congress was impatient of Lincoln's claim to executive precedence in the +matter of reconstruction, and in 1864 both Houses passed the Wade-Davis +Bill, a plan which asserted the right of Congress to control +reconstruction and foreshadowed a radical settlement of the question. +Lincoln disposed of the bill by a pocket veto and, in a proclamation +dated July 8, 1864, stated that he was unprepared "to be inflexibly +committed to any single plan of restoration," or to discourage loyal +citizens by setting aside the governments already established in +Louisiana and Arkansas, or to recognize the authority of Congress to +abolish slavery. He was ready, however, to coöperate with the people of +any State who wished to accept the plan prepared by Congress and he +hoped that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery would be +adopted. + +Lincoln early came to the conclusion that slavery must be destroyed, and +he had urgently advocated deportation of the freedmen, for he believed +that the two races could not live in harmony after emancipation. The +nearest he came to recommending the vote for the negro was in a +communication to Governor Hahn of Louisiana in March, 1864: "I barely +suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored +people may not be let in, as for instance, the very intelligent, and +especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would +probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty +within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the +public, but to you alone." + +Throughout the war President Lincoln assumed that the state +organizations in the South were illegal because disloyal and that new +governments must be established. But just at the close of the war, +probably carried away by feeling, he all but recognized the Virginia +Confederate Government as competent to bring the State back into the +Union. While in Richmond on April 5, 1865, he gave to Judge Campbell a +statement of terms: the national authority to be restored; no recession +on slavery by the Executive; hostile forces to disband. The next day he +notified General Weitzel, in command at Richmond, that he might permit +the Virginia Legislature to meet and withdraw military and other support +from the Confederacy. But these measures met strong opposition in +Washington, especially from Secretary Stanton and Senator Wade and other +congressional leaders, and on the 11th of April Lincoln withdrew his +permission for the Legislature to meet. "I cannot go forward," he said, +"with everybody opposed to me." It was on the same day that he made his +last public speech, and Sumner, who was strongly opposed to his policy, +remarked that "the President's speech and other things augur confusion +and uncertainty in the future, with hot contumacy." At a cabinet meeting +on the 14th of April, Lincoln made his last statement on the subject. It +was fortunate, he said, that Congress had adjourned, for "we shall +reanimate the States" before Congress meets; there should be no killing, +no persecutions; there was too much disposition to treat the Southern +people "not as fellow citizens." + +The possibility of a conciliatory restoration ended when Lincoln was +assassinated. Moderate, firm, tactful, of great personal influence, not +a doctrinaire, and not a Southerner like Johnson, Lincoln might have +"prosecuted peace" successfully. His policy was very unlike that +proposed by the radical leaders. They would base the new governments +upon the loyalty of the past plus the aid of enfranchised slaves; he +would establish the new régime upon the loyalty of the future. Like +Governor Andrew he thought that restoration must be effected by the +willing efforts of the South. He would aid and guide but not force the +people. If the latter did not wish restoration, they might remain under +military rule. There should be no forced negro suffrage, no sweeping +disfranchisement of whites, no "carpetbaggism." + +The work of President Johnson demands for its proper understanding some +consideration of the condition of the political parties at the close of +the war, for politics had much to do with reconstruction. The Democratic +party, divided and defeated in the election of 1860, lost its Southern +members in 1861 by the secession and remained a minority party during +the remainder of the war. It retained its organization, however, and in +1864 polled a large vote. Discredited by its policy of opposition to +Lincoln's Administration, its ablest leaders joined the Republicans in +support of the war. Until 1869 the party was poorly represented in +Congress although, as soon as hostilities ended, the War Democrats +showed a tendency to return to the old party. As to reconstruction, the +party stood on the Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of 1861, though most +Democrats were now willing to have slavery abolished. + +The Republican party--frankly sectional and going into power on the +single issue of opposition to the extension of slavery--was forced by +the secession movement to take up the task of preserving the Union by +war. Consequently, the party developed new principles, welcomed the aid +of the War Democrats, and found it advisable to drop its name and with +its allies to form the Union or National Union party. It was this +National Union party which in 1864 nominated Abraham Lincoln, a +Republican, and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, on the same ticket. +Lincoln's second Cabinet was composed of both Republicans and War +Democrats. When the war ended, the conservative leaders were anxious to +hold the Union party together in order to be in a better position to +settle the problems of reconstruction, but the movement of the War +Democrats back to their old party tended to leave in the Union party +only its Republican members, with the radical leaders dominating. + +In the South the pressure of war so united the people that party +divisions disappeared for a time, but the causes of division continued +to exist and two parties, at least, would have developed had the +pressure been removed. Though all factions supported the war after it +began, the former Whigs and Douglas Democrats, when it was over, liked +to remember that they had been "Union" men in 1860 and expected to +organize in opposition to the extreme Democrats, who were now charged +with being responsible for the misfortunes of the South. They were in a +position to affiliate with the National Union party of the North if +proper inducements were offered, while the regular Democrats were ready +to rejoin their old party. But the embittered feelings resulting from +the murder of Lincoln and the rapid development of the struggle between +President Johnson and Congress caused the radicals "to lump the old +Union Democrats and Whigs together with the secessionists--and many were +driven where they did not want to go, into temporary affiliation with +the Democratic party." Thousands went very reluctantly; the old Whigs, +indeed, were not firmly committed to the Democrats until radical +reconstruction had actually begun. Still other "loyalists" in the South +were prepared to join the Northern radicals in advocating the +disfranchisement of Confederates and in opposing the granting of +suffrage to the negroes. + +The man upon whom fell the task of leading these opposing factions, +radical and conservative, along a definite line of action looking to +reunion had few qualifications for the task. Johnson was ill-educated, +narrow, and vindictive and was positive that those who did not agree +with him were dishonest. Himself a Southerner, picked up by the National +Union Convention of 1864, as Thaddeus Stevens said, from "one of those +damned rebel provinces," he loved the Union, worshiped the Constitution, +and held to the strict construction views of the State Rights Democrats. +Rising from humble beginnings, he was animated by the most intense +dislike of the "slavocracy," as he called the political aristocracy of +the South. Like many other American leaders he was proud of his humble +origin, but unlike many others he never sloughed off his backwoods +crudeness. He continually boasted of himself and vilified the +aristocrats, who in return treated him badly. His dislike of them was so +marked that Isham G. Harris, a rival politician, remarked that "if +Johnson were a snake, he would lie in the grass to bite the heels of +rich men's children." His primitive notions of punishment were evident +in 1865 when he advocated imprisonment, execution, and confiscation; but +like other reckless talkers he often said more than he meant. + +When Johnson succeeded to the presidency, the feeling was nearly +universal among the radicals, according to Julian, that he would prove a +godsend to the country, for "aside from Mr. Lincoln's known policy of +tenderness to the rebels, which now so jarred upon the feelings of the +hour, his well known views on the subject of reconstruction were as +distasteful as possible to radical Republicans." Senator Wade declared +to the President: "Johnson, we have faith in you. By the gods, there +will be no trouble now in running the Government!" To which Johnson +replied: "Treason is a crime and crime must be punished. Treason must be +made infamous and traitors must be impoverished." These words are an +index to the speeches of Johnson during 1863-65. Even his radical +friends feared that he would be too vindictive. For a few weeks he was +much inclined to the radical plans, and some of the leaders certainly +understood that he was in favor of negro suffrage, the supreme test of +radicalism. But when the excitement caused by the assassination of +Lincoln and the break-up of the Confederacy had moderated somewhat, +Johnson saw before him a task so great that his desire for violent +measures was chilled. He must disband the great armies and bring all war +work to an end; he must restore intercourse with the South, which had +been blockaded for years; he must for a time police the country, look +after the negroes, and set up a temporary civil government; and finally +he must work out a restoration of the Union. Sobered by responsibility +and by the influence of moderate advisers, he rather quickly adopted +Lincoln's policy. + +Johnson at first set his face against the movements toward +reconstruction by the state governments already organized and by those +people who wished to organize new governments on Lincoln's ten per cent +plan. As soon as possible the War Department notified the Union +commanders to stop all attempts at reconstruction and to pursue and +arrest all Confederate governors and other prominent civil leaders. The +President was even anxious to arrest the military leaders who had been +paroled but was checked in this desire by General Grant's firm protest. +His cabinet advisers supported Johnson in refusing to recognize the +Southern state governments; but three of them--Seward, Welles, and +McCulloch--were influential in moderating his zeal for inflicting +punishments. Nevertheless he soon had in prison the most prominent of +the Confederate civilians and several general officers. The soldiers, +however, were sent home, trade with the South was permitted, and the +Freedmen's Bureau was rapidly extended. + +Previous to this Johnson had brought himself to recognize, early in May, +the Lincoln "ten per cent" governments of Louisiana, Tennessee, and +Arkansas, and the reconstructed Alexandria government of Virginia. Thus +only seven States were left without legal governments, and to bring +those States back into the Union, Johnson inaugurated on May 29, 1865, a +plan which was like that of Lincoln but not quite so liberal. In his +Amnesty Proclamation, Johnson made a longer list of exceptions aimed +especially at the once wealthy slave owners. On the same day he +proclaimed the restoration of North Carolina. A provisional governor, W. +W. Holden, was appointed and directed to reorganize the civil government +and to call a constitutional convention elected by those who had taken +the amnesty oath. This convention was to make necessary amendments to +the constitution and to "restore said State to its constitutional +relations to the Federal Government." It is to be noted that Johnson +fixed the qualifications of delegates and of those who elected them, +but, this stage once passed, the convention or the legislature would +"prescribe the qualifications of electors ... a power the people of the +several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised +from the origin of the government to the present time." The President +also directed the various cabinet officers to extend the work of their +departments over the Confederate States and ordered the army officers to +assist the civil authorities. During the next six weeks similar measures +were undertaken for the remaining six States of the Confederacy. + +To set up the new order army officers were first sent into every county +to administer the amnesty oath and thus to secure a "loyal" electorate. +In each State the provisional governor organized out of the remains of +the Confederate local régime a new civil government. Confederate local +officials who could and would take the amnesty oath were directed to +resume office until relieved; the laws of 1861, except those relating to +slavery, were declared to be in force; the courts were directed to use +special efforts to crush lawlessness; and the old jury lists were +destroyed and new ones were drawn up containing only the names of those +who had taken the amnesty oath. Since there was no money in any state +treasury, small sums were now raised by license taxes. A full staff of +department heads was appointed, and by July, 1865, the provisional +governments were in fair working order. + +To the constitutional conventions, which met in the fall, it was made +clear, through the governors, that the President would insist upon three +conditions: the formal abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the +ordinance of secession, and the repudiation of the Confederate war debt. +To Governor Holden he telegraphed: "Every dollar of the debt created to +aid the rebellion against the United States should be repudiated finally +and forever. The great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a +debt to aid in carrying on a rebellion which they in fact, if left to +themselves, were opposed to. Let those who had given their means for the +obligations of the state look to that power they tried to establish in +violation of law, constitution, and will of the people. They must meet +their fate." With little opposition these conditions were fulfilled, +though there was a strong feeling against the repudiation of the debt, +much discussion as to whether the ordinance of secession should be +"repealed" or declared "now and always null and void," and some +quibbling as to whether slavery was being destroyed by state action or +had already been destroyed by war. + +In the old state constitutions, very slight changes were made. Of these +the chief were concerned with the abolition of slavery and the +arrangement of representation and direct taxation on the basis of white +population. Little effort was made to settle any of the negro problems, +and in all States the conventions left it to the legislatures to make +laws for the freedmen. There was no discussion of negro suffrage in the +conventions, but President Johnson sent what was for him a remarkable +communication to Governor Sharkey of Mississippi: + +If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who +can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write +their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at +not less than two hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, you +would completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other +States will follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you would +thus place Southern States in reference to free persons of color upon +the same basis with the free States.... And as a consequence the +radicals, who are wild upon negro franchise, will be completely foiled +in their attempts to keep the Southern States from renewing their +relations to the Union by not accepting their senators and +representatives. + +In deciding upon a basis of representation it was clear that the +majority of delegates desired to lessen the influence of the Black Belt +and place the control of the government with the "up country." In the +Alabama convention Robert M. Patton, then a delegate and later governor, +frankly avowed this object, and in South Carolina Governor Perry urged +the convention to give no consideration to negro suffrage, "because this +is a white man's government," and if the negroes should vote they would +be controlled by a few whites. A kindly disposition toward the negroes +was general except on the part of extreme Unionists, who opposed any +favors to the race. "This is a white man's country" was a doctrine to +which all the conventions subscribed. + +The conventions held brief sessions, completed their work, and +adjourned, after directing that elections be held for state and local +officers and for members of Congress. Before December the appointed +local officials had been succeeded by elected officers; members of +Congress were on their way to Washington; the state legislatures were +assembling or already in session; and the elected governors were ready +to take office. It was understood that as soon as enough state +legislatures ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to make it a part of the +Constitution, the President would permit the transfer of authority to +the new governors. The Legislature of Mississippi alone was recalcitrant +about the amendment, and before January, 1866, the elected officials +were everywhere installed except in Texas, where the work was not +completed until March. When Congress met in December, 1865, the +President reported that all former Confederate States except Texas were +ready to be readmitted. Congress, however, refused to admit their +senators and representatives, and thus began the struggle which ended +over a year later with the victory of the radicals and the undoing of +the work of the two Presidents. + +The plan of the Presidents was at best only imperfectly realized. It was +found impossible to reorganize the Federal Administration in the South +with men who could subscribe to the "ironclad oath," for nearly all who +were competent to hold office had favored or aided the Confederacy. It +was two years before more than a third of the post offices could be +opened. The other Federal departments were in similar difficulties, and +at last women and "carpetbaggers" were appointed. The Freedmen's Bureau, +which had been established coincidently with the provisional +governments, assumed jurisdiction over the negroes, while the army +authorities very early took the position that any man who claimed to be +a Unionist should not be tried in the local courts but must be given a +better chance in a provost court. Thus a third or more of the population +was withdrawn from the control of the state government. In several +States the head of the Bureau made arrangements for local magistrates +and officials to act as Bureau officials, and in such cases the two +authorities acted in coöperation. The army of occupation, too, exerted +an authority which not infrequently interfered with the workings of the +new state government. Nearly everywhere there was a lack of certainty +and efficiency due to the concurrent and sometimes conflicting +jurisdictions of state government, army commanders, Bureau authorities, +and even the President acting upon or through any of the others. + +The standing of the Southern state organizations was in doubt after the +refusal of Congress to recognize them. Nevertheless, in spite of this +uncertainty they continued to function as States during the year of +controversy which followed; the courts were opened and steadily grew in +influence; here and there militia and patrols were reorganized; +officials who refused to "accept the situation" were dismissed; +elections were held; the legislatures revised the laws to fit new +conditions and enacted new laws for the emancipated blacks. To all this +progress in reorganization the action of Congress was a severe blow, +since it gave notice that none of the problems of reconstruction were +yet solved. An increasing spirit of irritation and independence was +observed throughout the States in question, and at the elections the +former Confederates gained more and more offices. The year was marked in +the South by the tendency toward the formation of parties, by the +development of the "Southern outrages" issue, by an attempt to frustrate +radical action, and finally by a line-up of the great mass of the whites +in opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment and other radical plans of +Congress. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, appointed when Congress refused +to accept the work of President Johnson, proceeded during several months +to take testimony and to consider measures. The testimony, which was +taken chiefly to support opinions already formed, appeared to prove that +the negroes and the Unionists were so badly treated that the Freedmen's +Bureau and the army must be kept in the South to protect them; that free +negro labor was a success but that the whites were hostile to it; that +the whites were disloyal and would, if given control of the Southern +governments and admitted to Congress, constitute a danger to the nation +and especially to the party in power. + +To convince the voters of the North of the necessity of dealing +drastically with the South a campaign of misrepresentation was begun in +the summer of 1865, which became more and more systematic and +unscrupulous as the political struggle at Washington grew fiercer. +Newspapers regularly ran columns headed "Southern Outrages" and every +conceivable mistreatment of blacks by whites was represented as taking +place on a large scale. As General Richard Taylor said, it would seem +that about 1866 every white man, woman, and child in the South began +killing and maltreating negroes. In truth, there was less and less +ground for objection to the treatment of the blacks as time went on and +as the several agencies of government secured firmer control over the +lawless elements. But fortunately for the radicals their contention +seemed to be established by riots on a large scale in Memphis and New +Orleans where negroes were killed and injured in much greater number +than whites. + +The rapid development of the radical plans of Congress checked the +tendency toward political division in the South. Only a small party of +rabid Unionists would now affiliate with the radicals, while all the +others reluctantly held together, endorsed Johnson's policy, and +attempted to affiliate with the disintegrating National Union party. But +the defeat of the President's policies in the elections of 1866, the +increasing radicalism of Congress as shown by the Civil Rights Act, the +expansion of the Freedmen's Bureau, the report of the Joint Committee on +Reconstruction, and the proposal of the Fourteenth Amendment led +farsighted Southerners to see that the President was likely to lose in +his fight with Congress. + +Now began, in the latter half of 1866, with some coöperation in the +North and probably with the approval of the President, a movement in the +South to forestall the radicals by means of a settlement which, although +less severe than the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, might yet be +acceptable to Congress. One feature of the settlement was to be some +form of negro suffrage, either by local action or by constitutional +amendment. Those behind this scheme were mainly of the former governing +class. Negro suffrage, they thought, would take the wind out of the +radical sails, the Southern whites would soon be able to control the +blacks, representation in Congress would be increased, and the Black +Belt would perhaps regain its former political hegemony. It is hardly +necessary to say that the majority of the whites were solidly opposed to +such a measure. But it was hoped to carry it under pressure through the +Legislature or to bring it about indirectly through rulings of the +Freedmen's Bureau. + +Coincident with this scheme of partial negro suffrage an attempt was +made by the conservative leaders in Washington, working with the +Southerners, to propose a revised Fourteenth Amendment which would give +the vote to competent negroes and not disfranchise the whites. A +conference of Southern governors met in Washington early in 1867 and +drafted such an amendment. But it was too late. + +Meanwhile the Fourteenth Amendment submitted by Congress had been +brought before the Southern legislatures and during the winter of +1866-67 it was rejected by all of them. There was strong opposition to +it because it disfranchised the leading whites, but perhaps the +principal reason for its rejection was that the Southern people were not +sure that still more severe conditions might not be imposed later. + +While the President was "restoring" the States which had seceded and +struggling with Congress, the Border States of the South, including +Tennessee (which was admitted in 1866 by reason of its radical state +government), were also in the throes of reconstruction. Though there was +less military interference in these than in the other States, many of +the problems were similar. All had the Freedmen's Bureau, the negro +race, the Unionists, and the Confederates; in every State, except +Kentucky, Confederates were persecuted, the minority was in control, and +"ring" rule was the order of the day; but in each State there were signs +of the political revolution which a few years later was to put the +radicals out of power. + +The executive plan for the restoration of the Union, begun by Lincoln +and adopted by Johnson, was, as we have seen, at first applied in all +the States which had seceded. A military governor was appointed in each +State by the President by virtue of his authority as commander in chief. +This official, aided by a civilian staff of his own choice and supported +by the United States army and other Federal agencies, reorganized the +state administration and after a few months turned the state and local +governments over to regularly elected officials. Restoration should now +have been completed, but Congress refused to admit the senators and +representatives of these States, and entered upon a fifteen months' +struggle with the President over details of the methods of the +reconstruction. Meanwhile the Southern States, though unrepresented in +Congress, continued their activities, with some interference from +Federal authorities, until Congress in 1867 declared their governments +non-existent. + +The work begun by Lincoln and Johnson deserved better success. The +original plan restored to political rights only a small number of +Unionists, the lukewarm Confederates, and the unimportant. But in spite +of the threatening speeches of Johnson he used his power of pardon until +none except the most prominent leaders were excluded. The personnel of +the Johnson governments was fair. The officials were, in the main, +former Douglas Democrats and Whigs, respectable and conservative, but +not admired or loved by the people. The conventions and the legislatures +were orderly and dignified and manifested a desire to accept the +situation. + +There were no political parties at first, but material for several +existed. If things had been allowed to take their course there would +have arisen a normal cleavage between former Whigs and Democrats, +between the up-country and the low country, between the slaveholders and +the nonslaveholders. The average white man in these governments was +willing to be fair to the negro but was not greatly concerned about his +future. In the view of most white people it was the white man who was +emancipated. The white districts had no desire to let the power return +to the Black Belt by giving the negro the ballot, for the vote of the +negroes, they believed, would be controlled by their former masters. + +Johnson's adoption of Lincoln's plan gave notice to all that the +radicals had failed to control him. He and they had little in common; +they wished to uproot a civilization, while he wished to punish +individuals; they were not troubled by constitutional scruples, while he +was the strictest of State Rights Democrats; they thought principally of +the negro and his potentialities, while Johnson was thinking of the +emancipated white man. It is possible that Lincoln might have succeeded, +but for Johnson the task proved too great. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +The Wards of the Nation + +The negroes at the close of the war were not slaves or serfs, nor were +they citizens. What was to be done with them and for them? The Southern +answer to this question may be found in the so-called "Black Laws," +which were enacted by the state governments set up by President Johnson. +The views of the dominant North may be discerned in part in the +organization and administration of the Freedmen's Bureau. The two +sections saw the same problem from different angles and their proposed +solutions were of necessity opposed in principle and in practice. + +The South desired to fit the emancipated negro race into the new social +order by frankly recognizing his inferiority to the whites. In some +things racial separation was unavoidable. New legislation consequently +must be enacted, because the slave codes were obsolete; because the old +laws made for the small free negro class did not meet present +conditions; and because the emancipated blacks could not be brought +conveniently and at once under laws originally devised for a white +population. The new laws must meet many needs; family life, morals, and +conduct must be regulated; the former slave must be given a status in +court in order that he might be protected in person and property; the +old, the infirm, and the orphans must be cared for; the white race must +be protected from lawless blacks and the blacks from unscrupulous and +violent whites; the negro must have an opportunity for education; and +the roving blacks must be forced to get homes, settle down, and go to +work. + +Pending such legislation the affairs of the negro remained in control of +the unpopular Freedmen's Bureau--a "system of espionage," as Judge +Clayton of Alabama called it, and, according to Governor Humphreys of +Mississippi, "a hideous curse" under which white men were persecuted and +pillaged. Judge Memminger of South Carolina, in a letter to President +Johnson, emphasized the fact that the whites of England and the United +States gained civil and political rights through centuries of slow +advancement and that they were far ahead of the people of European +states. Consequently, it would be a mistake to give the freedmen a +status equal to that of the most advanced whites. Rather, let the United +States profit by the experience of the British in their emancipation +policies and arrange a system of apprenticeship for a period of +transition. When the negro should be fit, let him be advanced to +citizenship. + +Most Southern leaders agreed that the removal of the master's protection +was a real loss to the negro which must be made good to some extent by +giving the negro a status in court and by accepting negro testimony in +all cases in which blacks were concerned. The North Carolina committee +on laws for freedmen agreed with objectors that "there are comparatively +few of the slaves lately freed who are honest" and truthful, but +maintained that the negroes were capable of improvement. The chief +executives of Mississippi and Florida declared that there was no danger +to the whites in admitting the more or less unreliable negro testimony, +for the courts and juries would in every case arrive at a proper +valuation of it. Governors Marvin of Florida and Humphreys of +Mississippi advocated practical civil equality, while in North Carolina +and several other States there was a disposition to admit negro +testimony only in cases in which negroes were concerned. The North +Carolina committee recommended the abolition of whipping as a punishment +unfit for free people, and most States accepted this principle. Even in +1865 the general disposition was to make uniform laws for both races, +except in regard to violation of contracts, immoral conduct, vagrancy, +marriage, schools, and forms of punishment. In some of these matters the +whites were to be more strictly regulated; in others, the negroes. + +There was further general agreement that in economic relations both +races must be protected, each from the other; but it is plain that the +leaders believed that the negro had less at stake than the white. The +negro was disposed to be indolent; he knew little of the obligations of +contracts; he was not honest; and he would leave his job at will. +Consequently Memminger recommended apprenticeship for all negroes; +Governor Marvin suggested it for children alone; and others wished it +provided for orphans only. Further, the laws enacted must force the +negroes to settle down, to work, and to hold to contracts. Memminger +showed that, without legislation to enforce contracts and to secure +eviction of those who refused to work, the white planter in the South +was wholly at the mercy of the negro. The plantations were scattered, +the laborers' houses were already occupied, and there was no labor +market to which a planter could go if the laborers deserted his fields. + +What would the negro become if these leaders of reconstruction were to +have their way? Something better than a serf, something less than a +citizen--a second degree citizen, perhaps, with legal rights about equal +to those of white women and children. Governor Marvin hoped to make of +the race a good agricultural peasantry; his successor was anxious that +the blacks should be preferred to European immigrants; others agreed +with Memminger that after training and education he might be advanced to +full citizenship. + +These opinions are representative of those held by the men who, +Memminger excepted, were placed in charge of affairs by President +Johnson and who were not specially in sympathy with the negroes or with +the planters but rather with the average white. All believed that +emancipation was a mistake, but all agreed that "it is not the negro's +fault" and gave no evidence of a disposition to perpetuate slavery under +another name. + +The legislation finally framed showed in its discriminatory features the +combined influence of the old laws for free negroes, the vagrancy laws +of North and South for whites, the customs of slavery times, the British +West Indies legislation for ex-slaves, and the regulations of the United +States War and Treasury Departments and of the Freedmen's Bureau--all +modified and elaborated by the Southern whites. In only two States, +Mississippi and South Carolina, did the legislation bulk large in +quantity; in other States discriminating laws were few; in still other +States none were passed except those defining race and prohibiting +intermarriage. + +In all of the state laws there were certain common characteristics, +among which were the following: the descendant of a negro was to be +classed as a negro through the third generation, ¹ even though one +parent in each generation was white; intermarriage of the races was +prohibited; existing slave marriages were declared valid and for the +future marriage was generally made easier for the blacks than for the +whites. In all States the negro was given his day in court, and in cases +relating to negroes his testimony was accepted; in six States he might +testify in any case. When provision was made for schooling, the rule of +race separation was enforced. In Mississippi the "Jim Crow car," or +separate car for negroes, was invented. In several States the negro had +to have a license to carry weapons, to preach, or to engage in trade. In +Mississippi, a negro could own land only in town; in other States he +could purchase land only in the country. Why the difference, no one +knows and probably few knew at the time. Some of the legislation was +undoubtedly hasty and ill-considered. + +¹ Fourth in Tennessee. + +But the laws relating to apprenticeship, vagrancy, and enforced punitive +employment turned out to be of greater practical importance. On these +subjects the legislation of Mississippi and South Carolina was the most +extreme. In Mississippi negro orphans were to be bound out, preferably +to a former master, if "he or she shall be a suitable person." The +master was given the usual control over apprentices and was bound by the +usual duties, including that of teaching the apprentice. But the +penalties for "enticing away" apprentices were severe. The South +Carolina statute was not essentially different. The vagrancy laws of +these two States were in the main the same for both races, but in +Mississippi the definition of vagrancy was enlarged to include negroes +not at work, those "found unlawfully assembling themselves together," +and "all white persons assembling themselves with freedmen." It is to be +noted that nearly all punishment for petty offenses took the form of +hiring out, preferably to the former master or employer. The principal +petty offenses were, it would seem, vagrancy and "enticing away" +laborers or apprentices. The South Carolina statute contains some other +interesting provisions. A negro, man or woman, who had enjoyed the +companionship of two or more spouses, must by April 1, 1866, select one +of them as a permanent partner; a farm laborer must "rise at dawn," feed +the animals, care for the property, be quiet and orderly, and "retire at +reasonable hours"; on Sunday the servants must take turns in doing the +necessary work, and they must be respectful and civil to the "master and +his family, guests, and agents"; to engage in skilled labor the negro +must obtain a license. Whipping and the pillory were permitted in +Florida for certain offenses, and in South Carolina the master might +"moderately correct" servants under eighteen years of age. Other +punishments were generally the same for both races, except the hiring +out for petty offenses. + +From the Southern point of view none of this legislation was regarded as +a restriction of negro rights but as a wide extension to the negro of +rights never before possessed, an adaptation of the white man's laws to +his peculiar case. It is doubtful whether in some of the States the +authorities believed that there were any discriminatory laws; they +probably overlooked some of the free negro legislation already on the +statute books. In Alabama, for example, General Wager Swayne, the head +of the Freedmen's Bureau, reported that all such laws had either been +dropped by the legislature or had been vetoed by the governor. Yet the +statute books do show some discriminations. There is a marked difference +between earlier and later legislation. The more stringent laws were +enacted before the end of 1865. After New Year's Day had passed and the +negroes had begun to settle down, the legislatures either passed mild +laws or abandoned all special legislation for the negroes. Later in +1866, several States repealed the legislation of 1865. + +In so far as the "Black Laws" discriminated against the negro they were +never enforced but were suspended from the beginning by the army and the +Freedmen's Bureau. They had, however, a very important effect upon that +section of Northern opinion which was already suspicious of the good +faith of the Southerners. They were part of a plan, some believed, to +reënslave the negro or at least to create by law a class of serfs. This +belief did much to bring about later radical legislation. + +If the "Black Laws" represented the reaction of the Southern +legislatures to racial conditions, the Freedmen's Bureau was the +corresponding result of the interest taken by the North in the welfare +of the negro. It was established just as the war was closing and arose +out of the various attempts to meet the negro problems that arose during +the war. The Bureau had always a dual nature, due in part to its +inheritance of regulations, precedents, and traditions from the various +attempts made during war time to handle the many thousands of negroes +who came under Federal control, and in part to the humanitarian impulses +of 1865, born of a belief in the capacity of the negro for freedom and a +suspicion that the Southern whites intended to keep as much of slavery +as they could. The officials of the Bureau likewise were of two classes: +those in control were for the most part army officers, standing as +arbiters between white and black, usually just and seldom the victims of +their sympathies; but the mass of less responsible officials were men of +inferior ability and character, either blind partisans of the negro or +corrupt and subject to purchase by the whites. + +In view of the fact that the Freedmen's Bureau was considered a new +institution in 1865, it is rather remarkable how closely it followed in +organization, purpose, and methods the precedents set during the war by +the officers of the army and the Treasury. In Virginia, General Butler, +in 1861, declared escaped slaves to be "contraband" and proceeded to +organize them into communities for discipline, work, food, and care. His +successors in Virginia and North Carolina, and others in the Sea Islands +of Georgia and South Carolina, extended his plan and arranged a labor +system with fixed wages, hours, and methods of work, and everywhere made +use of the captured or abandoned property of the Confederates. In +Tennessee and Arkansas, Chaplain John Eaton of Grant's army employed +thousands in a modified free labor system; and further down in +Mississippi and Louisiana Generals Grant, Butler, and Banks also put +large numbers of captured slaves to work for themselves and for the +Government. Everywhere, as the numbers of negroes increased, the army +commanders divided the occupied negro regions into districts under +superintendents and other officials, framed labor laws, coöperated with +benevolent societies which gave schooling and medical care to the +blacks, and developed systems of government for them. + +The United States Treasury Department, attempting to execute the +confiscation laws for the benefit of the Treasury, appears now and then +as an employer of negro labor on abandoned plantations. Either alone or +in coöperation with the army and charitable associations, it even +supervised negro colonies, and sometimes it assumed practically complete +control of the economic welfare of the negro. This Department introduced +in 1864 an elaborate lessee and trade system. The negro was regarded as +"the ward of the nation," but he was told impressively that "labor is a +public duty and idleness and vagrancy a crime." All wanted him to work: +the Treasury wanted cotton and other crops to sell; the lessees and +speculators wanted to make fortunes by his labor; and the army wanted to +be free from the burden of the idle blacks. In spite of all these +ministrations the negroes suffered much from harsh treatment, neglect, +and unsanitary conditions. + +During 1863 and 1864 several influences were urging the establishment of +a national bureau or department to take charge of matters relating to +the African race. Some wished to establish on the borders of the South a +paid labor system, which might later be extended over the entire region, +to get more slaves out of the Confederacy into this free labor +territory, and to prevent immigration of negroes into the North, which, +after the Emancipation Proclamation, was apprehensive of this danger. +Others wished to relieve the army and the treasury officials of the +burden of caring for the blacks and to protect the latter from the +"northern harpies and bloodhounds" who had fastened upon them the lessee +system. + +The discussion lasted for two years. The Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, +after a survey of the field in 1863, recommended a consolidation of all +efforts under an organization which should perpetuate the best features +of the old system. But there was much opposition to this plan in +Congress. The negroes would be exploited, objected some; the scheme gave +too much power to the proposed organization, said others; another +objection was urged against the employment of a horde of incompetent and +unscrupulous officeholders, for "the men who go down there and become +your overseers and negro drivers will be your brokendown politicians and +your dilapidated preachers, that description of men who are too lazy to +work and just a little too honest to steal." + +As the war drew to a close the advocates of a policy of consolidation in +negro affairs prevailed, and on March 3, 1865, an act was approved +creating in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and +Abandoned Lands. This Bureau was to continue for one year after the +close of the war and it was to control all matters relating to freedmen +and refugees, that is, Unionists who had been driven out of the South. +Food, shelter, and clothing were to be given to the needy, and abandoned +or confiscated property was to be used for or leased to freedmen. At the +head of the Bureau was to be a commissioner with an assistant +commissioner for each of the Southern States. These officials and other +employees must take the "ironclad" oath. + +It was planned that the Bureau should have a brief existence, but the +institution and its wards became such important factors in politics that +on July 16, 1866, after a struggle with the President, Congress passed +an act over his veto amplifying the powers of the Bureau and extending +it for two years longer. This continuation of the Bureau was due to many +things: to a belief that former slaveholders were not to be trusted in +dealing with the negroes; to the baneful effect of the "Black Laws" upon +Northern public opinion; to the struggle between the President and +Congress over reconstruction; and to the foresight of radical +politicians who saw in the institution an instrument for the political +instruction of the blacks in the proper doctrines. + +The new law was supplementary to the Act of 1865, but its additional +provisions merely endorsed what the Bureau was already doing. It +authorized the issue of medical supplies, confirmed certain sales of +land to negroes, and provided that the promises which Sherman made in +1865 to the Sea Island negroes should be carried out as far as possible +and that no lands occupied by blacks should be restored to the owners +until the crops of 1866 were gathered; it directed the Bureau to +coöperate with private charitable and benevolent associations, and it +authorized the use or sale for school purposes of all confiscated +property; and finally it ordered that the civil equality of the negro be +upheld by the Bureau and its courts when state courts refused to accept +the principle. By later laws the existence of the Bureau was extended to +January 1, 1869, in the unreconstructed States, but its educational and +financial activities were continued until June 20, 1872. + +The chief objections to the Bureau from the conservative Northern point +of view were summed up in the President's veto messages. The laws +creating it were based, he asserted, on the theory that a state of war +still existed; there was too great a concentration of power in the hands +of a few individuals who could not be held responsible; with such a +large number of agents ignorant of the country and often working for +their own advantage injustice would inevitably result; in spite of the +fact that the negro everywhere had a status in court, arbitrary +tribunals were established, without jury, without regular procedure or +rules of evidence, and without appeal; the provisions in regard to +abandoned lands amounted to confiscation without a hearing; the negro, +who must in the end work out his own salvation, and who was protected by +the demand for his labor, would be deluded into thinking his future +secure without further effort on his part; although nominally under the +War Department, the Bureau was not subject to military control; it was +practically a great political machine; and, finally, the States most +concerned were not represented in Congress. + +The Bureau was soon organized in all the former slaveholding States +except Delaware, with general headquarters in Washington and state +headquarters at the various capitals. General O. O. Howard, who was +appointed commissioner, was a good officer, soft-hearted, honest, pious, +and frequently referred to as "the Christian soldier." He was +fair-minded and not disposed to irritate the Southern whites +unnecessarily, but he was rather suspicious of their intentions toward +the negroes, and he was a believer in the righteousness of the +Freedmen's Bureau. He was not a good business man; and he was not beyond +the reach of politicians. At one time he was seriously disturbed in his +duties by the buzzing of the presidential bee in his bonnet. The members +of his staff were not of his moral stature, and several of them were +connected with commercial and political enterprises which left their +motives open to criticism. + +The assistant commissioners were, as a rule, general officers of the +army, though a few were colonels and chaplains. ¹ Nearly half of them +had during the war been associated with the various attempts to handle +the negro problem, and it was these men who shaped the organization of +the Bureau. While few of them were immediately acceptable to the +Southern whites, only ten of them proved seriously objectionable on +account of personality, character, or politics. Among the most able +should be mentioned Generals Schofield, Swayne, Fullerton, Steedman, and +Fessenden, and Colonel John Eaton. The President had little or no +control over the appointment or discipline of the officials and agents +of the Bureau, except possibly by calling some of the higher army +officers back to military service. + +¹ They numbered eleven at first and fourteen after July, 1866, and were +changed so often that fifty, in all, served in this rank before January +1, 1869, when the Bureau was practically discontinued. + +As a result of General Grant's severe criticism of the arrangement which +removed the Bureau from control by the military establishment, the +military commander was in a few instances also appointed assistant +commissioner. Each assistant commissioner was aided by a headquarters +staff and had under his jurisdiction in each State various district, +county, and local agents, with a special corps of school officials, who +were usually teachers and missionaries belonging to religious and +charitable societies. The local agents were recruited from the members +of the Veteran Reserve Corps, the subordinate officers and +non-commissioned officers of the army, mustered-out soldiers, officers +of negro troops, preachers, teachers, and Northern civilians who had +come South. As a class these agents were not competent persons to guide +the blacks in the ways of liberty or to arbitrate differences between +the races. There were many exceptions, but the Southern view as +expressed by General Wade Hampton had only too much foundation: "There +may be," he said, "an honest man connected with the Bureau." John Minor +Botts, a Virginian who had remained loyal to the Union, asserted that +many of the agents were good men who did good work but that trouble +resulted from the ignorance and fanaticism of others. The minority +members of the Ku Klux Committee condemned the agents as being +"generally of a class of fanatics without character or responsibility." + +The chief activities of the Bureau included the following five branches: +relief work for both races; the regulation of negro labor; the +administration of justice in cases concerning negroes; the management of +abandoned and confiscated property; and the support of schools for the +negroes. + +The relief work which was carried on for more than four years consisted +of caring for sick negroes who were within reach of the hospitals, +furnishing food and sometimes clothing and shelter to destitute blacks +and whites, and transporting refugees of both races back to their homes. +Nearly a hundred hospitals and clinics were established, and half a +million patients were treated. This work was greatly needed, especially +for the old and the infirm, and it was well done. The transportation of +refugees did not reach large proportions, and after 1866 it was +entangled in politics. But the issue of supplies in huge quantities +brought much needed relief though at the same time a certain amount of +demoralization. The Bureau claimed little credit, and is usually given +none, for keeping alive during the fall and winter of 1865-1866 +thousands of destitute whites. Yet more than a third of the food issued +was to whites, and without it many would have starved. Numerous +Confederate soldiers on the way home after the surrender were fed by the +Bureau, and in the destitute white districts a great deal of suffering +was relieved and prevented by its operations. The negroes, dwelling for +the most part in regions where labor was in demand, needed relief for a +shorter time, but they were attracted in numbers to the towns by free +food, and it was difficult to get them back to work. The political value +of the free food issues was not generally recognized until later in 1866 +and in 1867. + +During the first year of the Bureau an important duty of the agents was +the supervision of negro labor and the fixing of wages. Both officials +and planters generally demanded that contracts be written, approved, and +filed in the office of the Bureau. They thought that the negroes would +work better if they were thus bound by contracts. The agents usually +required that the agreements between employer and laborer cover such +points as the nature of the work, the hours, food and clothes, medical +attendance, shelter, and wages. To make wages secure, the laborer was +given a lien on the crop; to secure the planter from loss, unpaid wages +might be forfeited if the laborer failed to keep his part of the +contract. When it dawned upon the Bureau authorities that other systems +of labor had been or might be developed in the South, they permitted +arrangements for the various forms of cash and share renting. But it was +everywhere forbidden to place the negroes under "overseers" or to +subject them to "unwilling apprenticeship" and "compulsory working out +of debts." + +The written contract system for laborers did not work out successfully. +The negroes at first were expecting quite other fruits of freedom. One +Mississippi negro voiced what was doubtless the opinion of many when he +declared that he "considered no man free who had to work for a living." +Few negroes would contract for more than three months and none for a +period beyond January 1, 1866, when they expected a division of lands +among the ex-slaves. In spite of the regulations, most worked on oral +agreements. In 1866 nearly all employers threw overboard the written +contract system for labor and permitted oral agreements. Some States had +passed stringent laws for the enforcing of contracts, but in Alabama, +Governor Patton vetoed such legislation on the ground that it was not +needed. General Swayne, the Bureau chief for the State, endorsed the +Governor's action and stated that the negro was protected by his freedom +to leave when mistreated, and the planter, by the need on the part of +the negro for food and shelter. Negroes, he said, were afraid of +contracts and, besides, contracts led to litigation. + +In order to safeguard the civil rights of the negroes the Bureau was +given authority to establish courts of its own and to supervise the +action of state courts in cases to which freedmen were parties. The +majority of the assistant commissioners made no attempt to let the state +courts handle negro cases but were accustomed to bring all such cases +before the Bureau or the provost courts of the army. In Alabama, quite +early, and later in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia, the wiser +assistant commissioners arranged for the state courts to handle +freedmen's cases with the understanding that discriminating laws were to +be suspended. General Swayne in so doing declared that he was "unwilling +to establish throughout Alabama courts conducted by persons foreign to +her citizenship and strangers to her laws." The Bureau courts were +informal affairs, consisting usually of one or two administrative +officers. There were no jury, no appeal beyond the assistant +commissioner, no rules of procedure, and no accepted body of law. In +state courts accepted by the Bureau the proceedings in negro cases were +conducted in the same manner as for the whites. + +The educational work of the Bureau was at first confined to coöperation +with such Northern religious and benevolent societies as were organizing +schools and churches for the negroes. After the first year the Bureau +extended financial aid and undertook a system of supervision over negro +schools. The teachers employed were Northern whites and negroes in about +equal numbers. Confiscated Confederate property was devoted to negro +education, and in several States the assistant commissioners collected +fees and percentages of the negroes' wages for the benefit of the +schools. In addition the Bureau expended about six million dollars. + +The intense dislike which the Southern whites manifested for the +Freedmen's Bureau was due in general to their resentment of outside +control of domestic affairs and in particular to unavoidable +difficulties inherent in the situation. Among the concrete causes of +Southern hostility was the attitude of some of the higher officials and +many of the lower ones toward the white people. They assumed that the +whites were unwilling to accord fair treatment to the blacks in the +matter of wages, schools, and justice. An official in Louisiana declared +that the whites would exterminate the negroes if the Bureau were +removed. A few months later General Fullerton in the same State reported +that trouble was caused by those agents who noisily demanded special +privileges for the negro but who objected to any penalties for his +lawlessness and made of the negroes a pampered class. General Tillson in +Georgia predicted the extinction of the "old time Southerner with his +hate, cruelty, and malice." General Fisk declared that "there are some +of the meanest, unsubjugated and unreconstructed rascally revolutionists +in Kentucky that curse the soil of the country ... a more select number +of vindictive, pro-slavery, rebellious legislators cannot be found than +a majority of the Kentucky legislature." There was a disposition to +lecture the whites about their sins in regard to slavery and to point +out to them how far in their general ignorance and backwardness they +fell short of enlightened people. + +The Bureau courts were frequently conducted in an "illegal and +oppressive manner," with "decided partiality for the colored people, +without regard to justice." For this reason they were suspended for a +time in Louisiana and Georgia by General Steedman and General Fullerton, +and cases were then sent before military courts. Men of the highest +character were dragged before the Bureau tribunals upon frivolous +complaints, were lectured, abused, ridiculed, and arbitrarily fined or +otherwise punished. The jurisdiction of the Bureau courts weakened the +civil courts and their frequent interference in trivial matters was not +conducive to a return to normal conditions. + +The inferior agents, not sufficiently under the control of their +superiors, were responsible for a great deal of this bad feeling. Many +of them held radical opinions as to the relations of the races, and +inculcated these views in their courts, in the schools, and in the new +negro churches. Some were charged with even causing strikes and other +difficulties in order to be bought off by the whites. The tendency of +their work was to create in the negroes a pervasive distrust of the +whites. + +The prevalent delusion in regard to an impending division of the lands +among the blacks had its origin in the operation of the war-time +confiscation laws, in some of the Bureau legislation, and in General +Sherman's Sea Island order, but it was further fostered by the agents +until most blacks firmly believed that each head of a family was to get +"40 acres and a mule." This belief seriously interfered with industry +and resulted also in widespread swindling by rascals who for years made +a practice of selling fraudulent deeds to land with red, white, and blue +sticks to mark off the bounds of a chosen spot on the former master's +plantation. The assistant commissioners labored hard to disabuse the +minds of the negroes, but their efforts were often neutralized by the +unscrupulous attitude of the agents. + +As the contest over reconstruction developed in Washington, the +officials of the Bureau soon recognized the political possibilities of +their institution. After mid-year of 1866, the Bureau became a political +machine for the purpose of organizing the blacks into the Union League, +where the rank and file were taught that reënslavement would follow +Democratic victories. Nearly all of the Bureau agents aided in the +administration of the reconstruction acts in 1867 and in the +organization of the new state and local governments and became officials +under the new régime. They were the chief agents in capturing the solid +negro vote for the Republican party. + +Neither of the two plans for guiding the freedmen into a place in the +social order--the "Black Laws" and the Freedmen's Bureau--was +successful. The former contained a program which was better suited to +actual conditions and which might have succeeded if it had been given a +fair trial. These laws were a measure of the extent to which the average +white would then go in "accepting the situation" so far as the blacks +were concerned. And on the whole the recognition of negro rights made in +these laws, and made at a time when the whites believed that they were +free to handle the situation, was remarkably fair. The negroes lately +released from slavery were admitted to the enjoyment of the same rights +as the whites as to legal protection of life, liberty, and property, as +to education and as to the family relation, limited only by the clear +recognition of the principles of political inferiority and social +separation. Unhappily this legislation was not put to the test of +practical experience because of the Freedmen's Bureau; it was +nevertheless skillfully used to arouse the dominant Northern party to a +course of action which made impossible any further effort to treat the +race problem with due consideration to actual local conditions. + +Much of the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was of only temporary benefit +to both races. The results of its more permanent work were not generally +good. The institution was based upon the assumption that the negro race +must be protected from the white race. In its organization and +administration it was an impossible combination of the practical and the +theoretical, of opportunism and humanitarianism, of common sense and +idealism. It failed to exert a permanently wholesome influence because +its lesser agents were not held to strict accountability by their +superiors. Under these agents the alienation of the two races began, and +the ill feelings then aroused were destined to persist into a long and +troubled future. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Victory of the Radicals + +The soldiers who fought through the war to victory or to defeat had been +at home nearly two years before the radicals developed sufficient +strength to carry through their plans for a revolutionary reconstruction +of the Southern States. At the end of the war a majority of the Northern +people would have supported a settlement in accordance with Lincoln's +policy. Eight months later a majority, but a smaller one, would have +supported Johnson's work had it been possible to secure a popular +decision on it. How then did the radicals gain the victory over the +conservatives? The answer to this question is given by James Ford Rhodes +in terms of personalities: "Three men are responsible for the +Congressional policy of Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson, by his obstinacy +and bad behavior; Thaddeus Stevens, by his vindictiveness and +parliamentary tyranny; Charles Sumner, by his pertinacity in a misguided +humanitarianism." The President stood alone in his responsibility, but +his chief opponents were the ablest leaders of a resolute band of +radicals. + +Radicalism did not begin in the Administration of Andrew Johnson. +Lincoln had felt its covert opposition throughout the war, but he +possessed the faculty of weakening his opponents, while Johnson's +conduct usually multiplied the number and the strength of his enemies. +At first the radicals criticized Lincoln's policy in regard to slavery, +and after the Emancipation Proclamation they shifted their attack to his +"ten per cent" plan for organizing the state governments as outlined in +the Proclamation of December, 1863. Lincoln's course was distasteful to +them because he did not admit the right of Congress to dictate terms, +because of his liberal attitude towards former Confederates, and because +he was conservative on the negro question. A schism among the Republican +supporters of the war was with difficulty averted in 1864, when Frémont +threatened to lead the radicals in opposition to the "Union" party of +the President and his conservative policy. + +The breach was widened by the refusal of Congress to admit +representatives from Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864 and to count the +electoral vote of Louisiana and Tennessee in 1865. The passage of the +Wade-Davis reconstruction bill in July, 1864, and the protests of its +authors after Lincoln's pocket veto called attention to the growing +opposition. Severe criticism caused Lincoln to withdraw the propositions +which he had made in April, 1865, with regard to the restoration of +Virginia. In his last public speech he referred with regret to the +growing spirit of vindictiveness toward the South. Much of the +opposition to Lincoln's Southern policy was based not on radicalism, +that is, not on any desire for a revolutionary change in the South, but +upon a belief that Congress and not the Executive should be entrusted +with the work of reorganizing the Union. Many congressional leaders were +willing to have Congress itself carry through the very policies which +Lincoln had advocated; and a majority of the Northern people would have +endorsed them without much caring who was to execute them. + +The murder of Lincoln, the failure of the radicals to shape Johnson's +policy as they had hoped, and the continuing reaction against the +excessive expansion of the executive power added strength to the +opposition. But it was a long fight before the radical leaders won. +Their victory was due to adroit tactics on their own part and to +mistakes, bad judgment, and bad manners on the part of the President. +When all hope of controlling Johnson had been given up, Thaddeus Stevens +and other leaders of similar views began to contrive means to circumvent +him. On December 1, 1865, before Congress met, a caucus of radicals held +in Washington agreed that a joint committee of the two Houses should be +selected to which should be referred matters relating to reconstruction. +This plan would thwart the more conservative Senate and gain a desirable +delay in which the radicals might develop their campaign. The next day +at a caucus of the Union party the plan went through without arousing +the suspicion of the supporters of the Administration. Next, through the +influence of Stevens, Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House, omitted +from the roll call of the House the names of the members from the South. +The radical program was then adopted and a week later the Senate +concurred in the action of the House as to the appointment of a Joint +Committee on Reconstruction. + +On the issues before Congress both Houses were split into rather clearly +defined factions: the extreme radicals with such leaders as Stevens, +Sumner, Wade, and Boutwell; the moderate Republicans, chief among whom +were Fessenden and Trumbull; the administration Republicans led by +Raymond, Doolittle, Cowan, and Dixon; and the Democrats, of whom the +ablest were Reverdy Johnson, Guthrie, and Hendricks. All except the +extreme radicals were willing to support the President or to come to +some fairly reasonable compromise. But at no time were they given an +opportunity to get together. Johnson and the administration leaders did +little in this direction and the radicals made the most skillful use of +the divisions among the conservatives. + +Whatever final judgment may be passed upon the radical reconstruction +policy and its results, there can be no doubt of the political dexterity +of those who carried it through. Chief among them was Thaddeus Stevens, +vindictive and unscrupulous, filled with hatred of the Southern leaders, +bitter in speech and possessing to an extreme degree the faculty of +making ridiculous those who opposed him. He advocated confiscation, the +proscription or exile of leading whites, the granting of the franchise +and of lands to the negroes, and in Southern States the establishment of +territorial governments under the control of Congress. These States +should, he said, "never be recognized as capable of acting in the Union +... until the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it what +the makers intended, and so as to secure perpetual ascendancy to the +party of the Union." + +Charles Sumner, the leader of the radicals in the Senate, was moved less +than Stevens by personal hostility toward the whites of the South, but +his sympathy was reserved entirely for the blacks. He was unpractical, +theoretical, and not troubled by constitutional scruples. To him the +Declaration of Independence was the supreme law and it was the duty of +Congress to express its principles in appropriate legislation. Unlike +Stevens, who had a genuine liking for the negro, Sumner's sympathy for +the race was purely intellectual; for the individual negro he felt +repulsion. His views were in effect not different from those of Stevens. +And he was practical enough not to overlook the value of the negro vote. +"To my mind," he said, "nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity +of suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized States. It will +not be enough if you give it to those who read and write; you will not, +in this way, acquire the voting force which you need there for the +protection of unionists, whether white or black. You will not secure the +new allies who are essential to the national cause." A leader of the +second rank was his colleague Henry Wilson, who was also actuated by a +desire for the negro's welfare and for the perpetuation of the +Republican party, which he said contained in its ranks "more of moral +and intellectual worth than was ever embodied in any political +organization in any land ... created by no man or set of men but brought +into being by Almighty God himself ... and endowed by the Creator with +all political power and every office under Heaven." Shellabarger of Ohio +was another important figure among the radicals. The following extract +from one of his speeches gives an indication of his character and +temperament: "They [the Confederates] framed iniquity and universal +murder into law.... Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce upon +every sea. They carved the bones of the dead heroes into ornaments, and +drank from goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your +fountains, put mines under your soldiers' prisons; organized bands whose +leaders were concealed in your homes; and commissions ordered the torch +and yellow fever to be carried to your cities and to your women and +children. They planned one universal bonfire of the North from Lake +Ontario to the Missouri." + +Among the lesser lights may be mentioned Morton and Wade, both bluff, +coarse, and ungenerous, and thoroughly convinced that the Republican +party had a monopoly of loyalty, wisdom, and virtues, and that by any +means it must gain and keep control; Boutwell, fanatical and mediocre; +and Benjamin Butler, a charlatan and demagogue. As a class the Western +radicals were less troubled by humanitarian ideals than were those of +the East and sought more practical political results. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction which finally decided the fate of +the Southern States was composed of eight radicals, four moderate +Republicans, and three Democrats. As James Gillespie Blaine wrote later, +"it was foreseen that in an especial degree the fortunes of the +Republican party would be in the keeping of the fifteen men who might be +chosen." This committee was divided into four subcommittees to take +testimony. The witnesses, all of whom were examined at Washington, +included army officers and Bureau agents who had served in the South, +Southern Unionists, a few politicians, and several former Confederates, +among them General Robert E. Lee and Alexander H. Stephens. Most of the +testimony was of the kind needed to support the contentions of the +radicals that negroes were badly treated in the South; that the whites +were disloyal; that, should they be left in control, the negro, free +labor, the nation, and the Republican party would be in danger; that the +army and the Freedmen's Bureau must be kept in the South; and that a +radical reconstruction was necessary. No serious effort, however, was +made to ascertain the actual conditions in the South. Slow to formulate +a definite plan, the Joint Committee guided public sentiment toward +radicalism, converted gradually the Republican Congressmen, and little +by little undermined the power and influence of the President. + +Not until after the new year was it plain that there was to be a fight +to the finish between Congress and the President. Congress had refused +in December, 1865, to accept the President's program, but there was +still hope for a compromise. Many conservatives had voted for the delay +merely to assert the rights of Congress; but the radicals wanted time to +frame a program. The Northern Democrats were embarrassingly cordial in +their support of Johnson and so also were most Southerners. The +moderates were not far away from the position of the President and the +administration Republicans. But the radicals skillfully postponed a test +of strength until Stevens and Sumner were ready. The latter declared +that a generation must elapse "before the rebel communities have so far +been changed as to become safe associates in a common government. Time, +therefore, we must have. Through time all other guarantees may be +obtained; but time itself is a guarantee." + +To the Joint Committee were referred without debate all measures +relating to reconstruction, but the Committee was purposely making +little progress--contented merely to take testimony and to act as a +clearing house for the radical "facts" about "Southern outrages" while +waiting for the tide to turn. The "Black Laws" and the election of +popular Confederate leaders to office in the South were effectively used +to alarm the friends of the negroes, and the reports from the Bureau +agents gave support to those who condemned the Southern state +governments as totally inadequate and disloyal. + +So apparent was the growth of radicalism that the President, alarmed by +the attitude of Sumner and Stevens and their followers, began to fear +for the Constitution and forced the fight. The passage of a bill on +February 6, 1866, extending the life of the Freedmen's Bureau furnished +the occasion for the beginning of the open struggle. On the 19th of +February Johnson vetoed the bill, and the next day an effort was made to +pass it over the veto. Not succeeding in this attempt, the House of +Representatives adopted a concurrent resolution that Senators and +Representatives from the Southern States should be excluded until +Congress declared them entitled to representation. Ten days later the +Senate also adopted the resolution. + +Though it was not yet too late for Johnson to meet the conservatives of +Congress on middle ground, he threw away his opportunity by an +intemperate and undignified speech on the 22d of February to a crowd at +the White House. As usual when excited, he forgot the proprieties and +denounced the radicals as enemies of the Union and even went so far as +to charge Stevens, Sumner, and Wendell Phillips with endeavoring to +destroy the fundamental principles of the government. Such conduct +weakened his supporters and rejoiced his enemies. It was expected that +Johnson would approve the bill to confer civil rights upon the negroes, +but, goaded perhaps by the speeches of Stevens, he vetoed it on the 27th +of March. Its patience now exhausted, Congress passed the bill over the +President's veto. To secure the requisite majority in the Senate, +Stockton, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, was unseated on technical +grounds, and Senator Morgan, who was "paired" with a sick colleague, +broke his word to vote aye--for which Wade offensively thanked God. The +moderates had now fallen away from the President and at least for this +session of Congress his policies were wrecked. On the 16th of July the +supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act was passed over the veto, and on the +24th of July Tennessee was readmitted to representation by a law the +preamble of which asserted unmistakably that Congress had assumed +control of reconstruction. + +Meanwhile the Joint Committee on Reconstruction had made a report +asserting that the Southerners had forfeited all constitutional rights, +that their state governments were not in constitutional form, and that +restoration could be accomplished only when Congress and the President +acted together in fixing the terms of readmission. The uncompromising +hostility of the South, the Committee asserted, made necessary adequate +safeguards which should include the disfranchisement of the white +leaders, either negro suffrage or a reduction of white representation, +and repudiation of the Confederate war debt with recognition of the +validity of the United States debt. These terms were embodied in the +Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted by Congress and sent to the +States on June 13, 1866. + +In the congressional campaign of 1866 reconstruction was almost the sole +issue. For success the Administration must gain at least one-third of +one house, while the radicals were fighting for two-thirds of each +House. If the Administration should fail to make the necessary gain, the +work accomplished by the Presidents would be destroyed. The campaign was +bitter and extended through the summer and fall. Four national +conventions were held: the National Union party at Philadelphia made a +respectable showing in support of the President; the Southern Unionists, +guided by the Northern radicals met at the same place; a soldiers' and +sailors' convention at Cleveland supported the Administration; and +another convention of soldiers and sailors at Pittsburgh endorsed the +radical policies. A convention of Confederate soldiers and sailors at +Memphis endorsed the President, but the Southern support and that of the +Northern Democrats did not encourage moderate Republicans to vote for +the Administration. Three members of Johnson's Cabinet--Harlan, Speed, +and Dennison--resigned because they were unwilling to follow their chief +further in opposing Congress. + +The radicals had plenty of campaign material in the testimony collected +by the Joint Committee, in the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in +the bloody race riots which had occurred in Memphis and New Orleans. The +greatest blunder of the Administration was Johnson's speechmaking tour +to the West which he called "Swinging Around the Circle." Every time he +made a speech he was heckled by persons in the crowd, lost his temper, +denounced Congress and the radical leaders, and conducted himself in an +undignified manner. The election returns showed more than a two-thirds +majority in each House against the President. The Fortieth Congress +would therefore be safely radical, and in consequence the Thirty-ninth +was encouraged to be more radical during its last session. + +Public interest now for a time turned to the South, where the Fourteenth +Amendment was before the state legislatures. The radicals, taunted with +having no plan of reconstruction beyond a desire to keep the Southern +States out of the Union, professed to see in the ratification of the +Fourteenth Amendment a good opportunity to readmit the States on a safe +basis. The elections of 1866 had pointed to the ratification of the +proposed amendment as an essential preliminary to readmission. But would +additional demands be made upon the South? Sumner, Stevens, and +Fessenden were sure that negro suffrage also must come, but Wade, Chase, +Garfield, and others believed that nothing beyond the terms of the +Fourteenth Amendment would be asked. + +In the Southern legislatures there was little disposition to ratify the +amendment. The rapid development of the radical policies during 1866 had +convinced most Southerners that nothing short of a general humiliation +and complete revolution in the South would satisfy the dominant party, +and there were few who wished to be "parties to our own dishonor." The +President advised the States not to accept the amendment, but several +Southern leaders favored it, fearing that worse would come if they +should reject it. Only in the legislatures of Alabama and Florida was +there any serious disposition to accept the amendment; and in the end +all the unreconstructed States voted adversely during the fall and +winter of 1866-67. This unanimity of action was due in part to the +belief that, even if the amendment were ratified, the Southern States +would still be excluded, and in part to the general dislike of the +proscriptive section which would disfranchise all Confederates of +prominence and result in the breaking up of the state governments. The +example of unhappy Tennessee, which had ratified the Fourteenth +Amendment and had been readmitted, was not one to encourage conservative +people in the other Southern States. + +The rejection of the amendment put the question of reconstruction +squarely before Congress. There was no longer a possibility of +accomplishing the reconstruction of the Southern States by means of +constitutional amendments. Some of the Border and Northern States were +already showing signs of uneasiness at the continued exclusion of the +South. But if the Constitutional Amendment had failed, other means of +reconstruction were at hand, for the radicals now controlled the +Thirty-ninth Congress, from which the Southern representatives were +excluded, and would also control the Fortieth Congress. + +Under the lead of Stevens and Sumner the radicals now perfected their +plans. On January 8, 1867, their first measure, conferring the franchise +upon negroes in the District of Columbia, was passed over the +presidential veto, though the proposal had been voted down a few weeks +earlier by a vote of 6525 to 35 in Washington and 812 to 1 in +Georgetown. In the next place, by an act of January 31, 1867, the +franchise was extended to negroes in the territories, and on March 2, +1867, three important measures were enacted: the Tenure of Office Act +and a rider to the Army Appropriation Act--both designed to limit the +power of the President--and the first Reconstruction Act. By the Tenure +of Office Act the President was prohibited from removing officeholders +except with the consent of the Senate; and by the Army Act he was +forbidden to issue orders except through General Grant or to relieve him +of command or to assign him to command away from Washington unless at +the General's own request or with the previous approval of the Senate. +The first measure was meant to check the removal of radical +officeholders by Johnson, and the other, which was secretly drawn up for +Boutwell by Stanton, was designed to prevent the President from +exercising his constitutional command of the army. + +The first Reconstruction Act declared that no legal state government +existed in the ten unreconstructed States and that there was no adequate +protection for life and property. The Johnson and Lincoln governments in +those States were declared to have no legal status and to be subject +wholly to the authority of the United States to modify or abolish. The +ten States were divided into five military districts, over each of which +a general officer was to be placed in command. Military tribunals were +to supersede the civil courts where necessary. Stevens was willing to +rest here, though some of his less radical followers, disliking military +rule but desiring to force negro suffrage, inserted a provision in the +law that a State might be readmitted to representation upon the +following conditions: a constitutional convention must be held, the +members of which were elected by males of voting age without regard to +color, excluding whites who would be disfranchised by the proposed +Fourteenth Amendment; a constitution including the same rule of suffrage +must be framed, ratified by the same electorate, and approved by +Congress; and lastly, the legislatures elected under this constitution +must ratify the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, after which, if the +Fourteenth Amendment should have become a part of the Federal +Constitution, the State should be readmitted to representation. + +In order that the administration of this radical legislation might be +supervised by its friends, the Thirty-ninth Congress had passed a law +requiring the Fortieth Congress to meet on the 4th of March instead of +in December as was customary. According to the Reconstruction Act of the +2nd of March it was left to the state government or to the people of a +State to make the first move towards reconstruction. If they preferred, +they might remain under military rule. Either by design or by +carelessness no machinery of administration was provided for the +execution of the act. When it became evident that the Southerners +preferred military rule the new Congress passed a Supplementary +Reconstruction Act on the 23d of March designed to force the earlier act +into operation. The five commanding generals were directed to register +the blacks of voting age and the whites who were not disfranchised, to +hold elections for conventions, to call the conventions, to hold +elections to ratify or reject the constitutions, and to forward the +constitutions, if ratified, to the President for transmission to +Congress. + +In these reconstruction acts the whole doctrine of radicalism was put on +the way to accomplishment. Its spread had been rapid. In December, 1865, +the majority of Congress would have accepted with little modification +the work of Lincoln and Johnson. Three months later the Civil Rights Act +measured the advance. Very soon the new Freedmen's Bureau Act and the +Fourteenth Amendment indicated the rising tide of radicalism. The +campaign of 1866 and the attitude of the Southern States swept all +radicals and most moderate Republicans swiftly into a merciless course +of reconstruction. Moderate reconstruction had nowhere strong support. +Congress, touched in its amour propre by presidential disregard, was +eager for extremes. Johnson, who regarded himself as defending the +Constitution against radical assaults, was stubborn, irascible, and +undignified, and with his associates was no match in political strategy +for his radical opponents. + +The average Republican or Unionist in the North, if he had not been +brought by skillful misrepresentation to believe a new rebellion +impending in the South, was at any rate painfully alive to the fear that +the Democratic party might regain power. With the freeing of the slaves +the representation of the South in Congress would be increased. At first +it seemed that the South might divide in politics as before the war, but +the longer the delay the more the Southern whites tended to unite into +one party acting with the Democrats. With their eighty-five +representatives and a slight reaction in the North, they might gain +control of the lower House of Congress. The Union-Republican party had a +majority of less than one hundred in 1866 and this was lessened slightly +in the Fortieth Congress. The President was for all practical purposes a +Democrat again. The prospect was too much for the very human politicians +to view without distress. Stevens, speaking in support of the Military +Reconstruction Bill, said: + +There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the +first place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to negro +suffrage in the rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a +right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second +place, it is necessary in order to protect the loyal white men in the +seceded States. With them the blacks would act in a body, and it is +believed that in each of these States, except one, the two united would +form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. Now they +are the victims of daily murder. They must suffer constant persecution +or be exiled. Another good reason is that it would insure the ascendancy +of the union party.... I believe ... that on the continued ascendancy of +that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial +suffrage is excluded in the rebel States, then every one of them is sure +to send a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred +Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and control +Congress. + +The laws passed on the 2d and the 23d of March were war measures and +presupposed a continuance of war conditions. The Lincoln-Johnson state +governments were overturned; Congress fixed the qualifications of voters +for that time and for the future; and the President, shorn of much of +his constitutional power, could exercise but little control over the +military government. Nothing that a State might do would secure +restoration until it should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the +Federal Constitution. The war had been fought upon the theory that the +old Union must be preserved; but the basic theory of the reconstruction +was that a new Union was to be created. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The Rule of the Major Generals + +From the passage of the reconstruction acts to the close of Johnson's +Administration, Congress, working the will of the radical majority, was +in supreme control. The army carried out the will of Congress and to +that body, not to the President, the commanding general and his +subordinates looked for direction. + +The official opposition of the President to the policy of Congress +ceased when that policy was enacted into law. He believed this +legislation to be unconstitutional, but he considered it his duty to +execute the laws. He at once set about the appointment of generals to +command the military districts created in the South, ¹ a task calling +for no little discretion, since much depended upon the character of +these military governors, or "satraps," as they were frequently called +by the opposition. The commanding general in a district was charged with +many duties, military, political, and administrative. It was his duty to +carry on a government satisfactory to the radicals and not too +irritating to the Southern whites; at the same time he must execute the +reconstruction acts by putting old leaders out of power and negroes in. +Violent opposition to this policy on the part of the South was not +looked for. Notwithstanding the "Southern outrage" campaign, it was +generally recognized in government circles that conditions in the +seceded States had gradually been growing better since the close of the +war. There was in many regions, to be sure, a general laxity in +enforcing laws, but that had always been characteristic of the newer +parts of the South. The Civil Rights Act was generally in force, the +"Black Laws" had been suspended, and the Freedmen's Bureau was +everywhere caring for the negroes. What disorder existed was of recent +origin and in the main was due to the unsettling effects of the debates +in Congress and to the organization of the negroes for political +purposes. + +¹ The first five generals appointed were Schofield, Sickles, Pope, Ord, +and Sheridan. None of these remained in his district until +reconstruction was completed. To Schofield's command in the first +district succeeded in turn Stoneman, Webb, and Canby; Sickles gave way +to Canby, and Pope to Meade; Ord in the fourth district was followed by +Gillem, McDowell, and Ames; Sheridan, in the fifth, was succeeded by +Griffen, Mower, Hancock, Buchanan, Reynolds, and Canby. Some of the +generals were radical; others, moderate and tactful. The most extreme +were Sheridan, Pope, and Sickles. Those most acceptable to the whites +were Hancock, Schofield, and Meade. General Grant himself became more +radical in his actions as he became involved in the fight between +Congress and the President. + +Military rule was established in the South with slight friction, but it +was soon found that the reconstruction laws were not sufficiently clear +on two points: first, whether there was any limit to the authority of +the five generals over the local and state governments and, if so, +whether the limiting authority was in the President; and second, whether +the disfranchising provisions in the laws were punitive and hence to be +construed strictly. Attorney-General Stanbery, in May and June, 1867, +drew up opinions in which he maintained that the laws were to be +considered punitive and therefore to be construed strictly. After +discussions in cabinet meetings these opinions received the approval of +all except Stanton, Secretary of War, who had already joined the radical +camp. The Attorney-General's opinion was sent out to the district +commanders for their information and guidance. But Congress did not +intend to permit the President or his Cabinet to direct the process of +reconstruction, and in the Act of July 19, 1867, it gave a radical +interpretation to the reconstruction legislation, declared itself in +control, gave full power to General Grant and to the district commanders +subject only to Grant, directed the removal of all local officials who +opposed the reconstruction policies, and warned the civil and military +officers of the United States that none of them should "be bound in his +action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States." This +interpretive legislation gave a broad basis for the military government +and resulted in a severe application of the disfranchising provisions of +the laws. + +The rule of the five generals lasted in all the States until June, 1868, +and continued in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and Georgia until 1870. +There had been, to be sure, some military government in 1865, subject, +however, to the President, and from 1865 to 1867 the army, along with +the Freedmen's Bureau, had exerted a strong influence in the government +of the South, but in the régime now inaugurated the military was +supreme. The generals had a superior at Washington, but whether it was +the President, General Grant, or Congress was not clear until the Act of +July 19, 1867 made Congress the source of authority. + +The power of the generals most strikingly appeared in their control of +the state governments which were continued as provisional organizations. +Since no elections were permitted, all appointments and removals were +made from military headquarters, which soon became political beehives, +centers of wirepulling and agencies for the distribution of spoils. At +the outset civil officers were ordered to retain their offices during +good behavior, subject to military control. But no local official was +permitted to use his influence ever so slightly against reconstruction. +Since most of them did not favor the policy of Congress, thousands were +removed as "obstacles to reconstruction." The Governors of Georgia, +Louisiana, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas were displaced and others +appointed in their stead. All kinds of subordinate offices rapidly +became vacant. New appointments were nearly always carpetbaggers and +native radicals who could take the "ironclad" oath. The generals +complained that there were not enough competent native "loyalists" to +fill the offices, and frequently an army officer was installed as +governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor, or mayor. In nearly +all towns the police force was reorganized and former Federal soldiers +were added to the force, while the regular troops were used for general +police purposes and for rural constabulary. + +Over the administration of justice the military authorities exercised a +close supervision. Instructions were sent out to court officers covering +the selection of juries, the suspension of certain laws, and the rules +of evidence and procedure. Courts were often closed, court decrees set +aside or modified, prisoners released, and many cases reserved for trial +by military commission. Some commanders required juries to admit negro +members and insisted that all jurors take the "ironclad" test oath. +There was some attempt at regulating the Federal courts but without much +success. + +Since the state legislatures were forbidden to meet, much legislation +was enacted through military orders. Stay laws were enacted, the color +line was abolished, new criminal regulations were promulgated, and the +police power was invoked in some instances to justify sweeping measures, +such as the prohibition of whisky manufacture in North Carolina and +South Carolina. The military governors levied, increased, or decreased +taxes and made appropriations which the state treasurers were forced to +pay, but they restrained the radical conventions, all of which wished to +spend much money. According to the Act of March 23, 1867, the generals +and their appointees were to be paid by the United States, but in +practice the running expenses of reconstruction were paid by the state +treasurers. + +Any attempt to favor the Confederate soldiers was frowned upon. Laws +providing wooden legs and free education for crippled Confederates were +suspended. Militia organizations and military schools were forbidden. No +uniform might be worn, no parades were permitted, no memorial and +historical societies were to be organized, and no meeting of any kind +could be held without a permit. The attempt to control the press +resulted in what one general called "a horrible uproar." Editors were +forbidden to express themselves too strongly against reconstruction; +public advertising and printing were awarded only to those papers +actively supporting reconstruction. Several newspapers were suppressed, +a notable example being the Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor, whose +editor, Ryland Randolph, was a picturesque figure in Alabama journalism +and a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. + +The military administration was thorough, and, as a whole honest and +efficient. With fewer than ten thousand soldiers the generals maintained +order and carried on the reconstruction of the South. The whites made no +attempt at resistance, though they were irritated by military rule and +resented the loss of self-government. But most Southerners preferred the +rule of the army to the alternative reign of the carpetbagger, scalawag, +and negro. The extreme radicals at the North, on the other hand, were +disgusted at the conservative policy of the generals. The apathy of the +whites at the beginning of the military reconstruction excited surprise +on all sides. Not only was there no violent opposition, but for a few +weeks there was no opposition at all. The civil officials were openly +unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced dissent not untouched with +disgust; others simply could not take the situation seriously because it +seemed so absurd; many leaders were indifferent, while others--among +them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Longstreet, and Governor +Patton--without approving the policy, advised the whites to coöperate +with the military authorities and save all they could out of the +situation. General Beauregard, for instance, wrote in 1867: "If the +suffrage of the negro is properly handled and directed we shall defeat +our adversaries with their own weapons. The negro is Southern born. With +education and property qualifications he can be made to take an interest +in the affairs of the South and in its prosperity. He will side with the +whites." + +Northern observers who were friendly to the South or who disapproved of +this radical reconstruction saw the danger more clearly than the +Southerners themselves, who seemed not to appreciate the full +implication of the situation. In this connection the New York Herald +remarked: + +We may regard the entire ten unreconstructed Southern States, with +possibly one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming +revolutionary influence to a common and inevitable fate. They are all +bound to be governed by blacks spurred on by worse than blacks--white +wretches who dare not show their faces in respectable society anywhere. +This is the most abominable phase barbarism has assumed since the dawn +of civilization. It was all right and proper to put down the rebellion. +It was all right perhaps to emancipate the slaves.... But it is not +right to make slaves of white men even though they may have been former +masters of blacks. This is but a change in a system of bondage that is +rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has been inaugurated +in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age. + +The political parties rapidly grouped themselves for the coming +struggle. The radical Republican party indeed was in process of +organization in the South even before the passage of the reconstruction +acts. Its membership was made up of negroes, carpetbaggers, or Northern +men who had come in as speculators, officers of the Freedmen's Bureau +and of the army, scalawags or Confederate renegades, "Peace Society" +men, ¹ and Unionists of Civil War times, with a few old Whigs who could +not yet bring themselves to affiliate with the Democrats. At first it +seemed that a respectable number of whites might be secured for the +radical party, but the rapid organization of the negroes checked the +accession of whites. In the winter and spring of 1866-67 the negroes +near the towns were well organized by the Union League and the +Freedmen's Bureau and then, after the passage of the reconstruction +acts, the organizing activities of the radical chieftains shifted to the +rural districts. The Union League was greatly extended; Union League +conventions were held to which local whites were not admitted; and the +formation of a black man's party was well on the way before the +registration of the voters was completed. Visiting statesmen from the +North, among them Henry Wilson of Massachusetts and "Pig Iron" Kelley of +Pennsylvania, toured the South in support of the radical program, and +the registrars and all Federal officials aided in the work. + +¹ See The Day of the Confederacy, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson (in The +Chronicles of America), p. 121, footnote. + +The whites, slow to comprehend the real extent of radicalism, were +finally aroused to the necessity of organizing, if they were to +influence the negro and have a voice in the conventions. The old party +divisions were still evident. With difficulty a portion of the Whigs +were brought with the Democrats into one conservative party during the +summer and fall of 1867, though many still held aloof. The lack of the +old skilled leadership was severely felt. In places where the white +man's party was given a name it was called "Democratic and +Conservative," to spare the feelings of former Whigs who were loath to +bear the party name of their quondam opponents. + +The first step in the military reconstruction was the registration of +voters. In each State a central board of registrars was appointed by the +district commander and a local board for every county and large town. +Each board consisted of three members--all radicals--who were required +to subscribe to the "ironclad" oath. In several States one negro was +appointed to each local board. The registrars listed negro voters during +the day, and at night worked at the organization of a radical Republican +party. The prospective voters were required to take the oath prescribed +in the Reconstruction Act, but the registrars were empowered to go +behind the oath and investigate the Confederate record of each +applicant. This authority was invoked to carry the disfranchisement of +the whites far beyond the intention of the law in an attempt to destroy +the leadership of the whites and to register enough negroes to outvote +them at the polls. For this purpose the registration was continued until +October 1, 1867, and an active campaign of education and organization +carried on. + +At the close of the registration, 703,000 black voters were on the rolls +and 627,000 whites. In Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and +Mississippi there were black majorities, and in the other States the +blacks and the radical whites together formed majorities. The white +minorities included several thousand who had been rejected by the +registrars but restored by the military commanders. Though large numbers +of blacks were dropped from the revised rolls as fraudulently +registered, the registration statistics nevertheless bore clear witness +to the political purpose of those who compiled them. + +Next followed a vote on the question of holding a state convention and +the election of delegates to such a convention if held--a double +election. The whites, who had been harassed in the registration and who +feared race conflicts at the elections, considered whether they ought +not to abstain from voting. By staying away from the polls, they might +bring the vote cast in each State below a majority and thus defeat the +proposed conventions for, unless a majority of the registered voters +actually cast ballots either for or against a convention, no convention +could be held. Nowhere, however, was this plan of not voting fully +carried out, for, though most whites abstained, enough of them voted +(against the conventions, of course) to make the necessary majority in +each State. The effect of the abstention policy upon the personnel of +the conventions was unfortunate. In every convention there was a radical +majority with a conservative and all but negligible minority. In South +Carolina and Louisiana there were negro majorities. In every State +except North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia the negroes and the +carpetbaggers together were in the majority over native whites. The +conservative whites were of fair ability; the carpetbaggers and +scalawags produced in each convention a few able leaders, but most of +them were conscienceless political soldiers of fortune; the negro +members were inexperienced, and most of them were quite ignorant, though +a few leaders of ability did appear among them. In Alabama, for example, +only two negro members could write, though half had been taught to sign +their names. They were barbers, field hands, hack drivers, and servants. +A negro chaplain was elected who invoked divine blessings on "unioners +and cusses on rebels." It was a sign of the new era when the convention +specially invited the "ladies of colored members" to seats in the +gallery. + +The work of the conventions was for the most part cut and dried, the +abler members having reached a general agreement before they met. The +constitutions, mosaics of those of other States, were noteworthy only +for the provisions made to keep the whites out of power and to regulate +the relations of the races in social matters. The Texas constitution +alone contained no proscriptive clauses beyond those required by the +Fourteenth Amendment. The most thoroughgoing proscription of +Confederates was found in the constitutions of Mississippi, Alabama, and +Virginia; and in these States the voter must also purge himself of guilt +by agreeing to accept the "civil and political equality of all men" or +by supporting reconstruction. Only in South Carolina and Louisiana were +race lines abolished by law. + +The legislative work of the conventions was more interesting than the +constitution making. By ordinance the legality of negro marriages was +dated from November, 1867, or some date later than had been fixed by the +white conventions of 1865. Mixed schools were provided in some States; +militia for the black districts but not for the white was to be raised; +while in South Carolina it was made a penal offense to call a person a +"Yankee" or a "nigger." Few of the negro delegates demanded proscription +of whites or social equality; they wanted schools and the vote. The +white radicals were more anxious to keep the former Confederates from +holding office than from voting. The generals in command everywhere used +their influence to secure moderate action by the conventions, and for +this they were showered with abuse. + +As provided by the reconstruction acts, the new constitutions were +submitted to the electorate created by those instruments. Unless a +majority of the registered voters in a State should take part in the +election the reconstruction would fail and the State would remain under +military rule. The whites now inaugurated a more systematic policy of +abstention and in Alabama, on February 4, 1868, succeeded in holding the +total vote below a majority. Congress then rushed to the rescue of +radicalism with the act of the 11th of March, which provided that a mere +majority of those voting in the State was sufficient to inaugurate +reconstruction. Arkansas had followed the lead of Alabama, but too late; +in Mississippi the constitution was defeated by a majority vote; in +Texas the convention had made no provision for a vote; and in Virginia +the commanding general, disapproving of the work of the convention, +refused to pay the expenses of an election. In the other six States the +constitutions were adopted. ¹ + +¹ Except in Texas, the work of constitution making was completed between +November 5, 1867, and May 18, 1868. + +These elections gave rise to more violent contests than before. They +also were double elections, as the voters cast ballots for state and +local officials and at the same time for or against the constitution. +The radical nominations were made by the Union League and the Freedmen's +Bureau, and nearly all radicals who had been members of conventions were +nominated and elected to office. The negroes, expecting now to reap some +benefits of reconstruction, frequently brought sacks to the polls to +"put the franchise in." The elections were all over by June, 1868, and +the newly elected legislatures promptly ratified the Fourteenth +Amendment. + +It now remained for Congress to approve the work done in the South and +to readmit the reorganized States. The case of Alabama gave some +trouble. Even Stevens, for a time, thought that this State should stay +out; but there was danger in delay. The success of the abstention policy +in Alabama and Arkansas and the reviving interest of the whites +foreshadowed white majorities in some places; the scalawags began to +forsake the radical party for the conservatives; and there were +Democratic gains in the North in 1867. Only six States, New York and +five New England States, allowed the negro to vote, while four States, +Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and Ohio, voted down negro suffrage after +the passage of the reconstruction acts. The ascendancy of the radicals +in Congress was menaced. The radicals needed the support of their +radical brethren in Southern States and they could not afford to wait +for the Fourteenth Amendment to become a part of the Constitution or to +tolerate other delay. On the 22d and the 25th of June acts were +therefore passed admitting seven States, Alabama included, to +representation in Congress upon the "fundamental condition" that "the +constitutions of neither of said States shall ever be so amended or +changed as to deprive any citizens or class of citizens of the United +States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by +the constitution thereof herein recognized." + +The generals now turned over the government to the recently elected +radical officials and retired into the background. Military +reconstruction was thus accomplished in all the States except Virginia, +Mississippi, and Texas. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The Trial of President Johnson + +While the radical program was being executed in the South, Congress was +engaged not only in supervising reconstruction but in subduing the +Supreme Court and in "conquering" President Johnson. One must admire the +efficiency of the radical machine. When the Southerners showed that they +preferred military rule as permitted by the Act of the 2nd of March, +Congress passed the Act of the 23d of March which forced the +reconstruction. When the President ventured to assert his power in +behalf of a considerate administration of the reconstruction acts, +Congress took the power out of his hands by the law of the 19th of July. +The Southern plan to defeat the new state constitutions by abstention +was no sooner made clear in the case of Alabama than Congress came to +the rescue with the Act of March 11, 1868. + +Had it seemed necessary, Congress would have handled the Supreme Court +as it did the Southerners. The opponents of radical reconstruction were +anxious to get the reconstruction laws of March, 1867, before the Court. +Chief Justice Chase was known to be opposed to military reconstruction, +and four other justices were, it was believed, doubtful of the +constitutionality of the laws. A series of conservative decisions gave +hope to those who looked to the Court for relief. The first decision, in +the case of ex parte Milligan, declared unconstitutional the trials of +civilians by military commissions when civil courts were open. A few +months later, in the cases of Cummings vs. Missouri and ex parte +Garland, the Court declared invalid, because ex post facto, the state +laws designed to punish former Confederates. + +But the first attempts to get the reconstruction acts before the Supreme +Court failed. The State of Mississippi, in April, 1867, brought suit to +restrain the President from executing the reconstruction acts. The Court +refused to interfere with the Executive. A similar suit was then brought +against Secretary Stanton by Georgia with a like result. But in 1868, in +the case of ex parte McCardle, it appeared that the question of the +constitutionality of the reconstruction acts would be passed upon. +McCardle, a Mississippi editor arrested for opposition to reconstruction +and convicted by military commission, appealed to the Supreme Court, +which asserted its jurisdiction. But the radicals in alarm rushed +through Congress an act (March 27, 1868) which took away from the Court +its jurisdiction in cases arising under the reconstruction acts. The +highest court was thus silenced. + +The attempt to remove the President from office was the only part of the +radical program that failed, and this by the narrowest of margins. +During the spring and summer of 1866 there was some talk among +politicians of impeaching President Johnson, and in December a +resolution was introduced by Representative Ashley of Ohio looking +toward impeachment. Though the committee charged with the investigation +of "the official conduct of Andrew Johnson" reported that enough +testimony had been taken to justify further inquiry, the House took no +action. There were no less than five attempts at impeachment during the +next year. Stevens, Butler, and others were anxious to get the President +out of the way, but the majority were as yet unwilling to impeach for +merely political reasons. There were some who thought that the radicals +had sufficient majorities to ensure all needed legislation and did not +relish the thought of Ben Wade in the presidency. ¹ Others considered +that no just grounds for action had been found in the several +investigations of Johnson's record. Besides, the President's authority +and influence had been much curtailed by the legislation relating to the +Freedmen's Bureau, tenure of office, reconstruction, and command of the +army, and Congress had also refused to recognize his amnesty and +pardoning powers. + +¹ Senator Wade of Ohio was President pro tempore of the Senate and by +the act of 1791 would succeed President Johnson if he were removed from +office. + +But the desire to impeach the President was increasing in power, and +very little was needed to provoke a trial of strength between the +radicals and the President. The drift toward impeachment was due in part +to the legislative reaction against the Executive, and in part to +Johnson's own opposition to reconstruction and to his use of the +patronage against the radicals. Specific grievances were found in his +vetoes of the various reconstruction bills, in his criticisms of +Congress and the radical leaders, and in the fact, as Stevens asserted, +that he was a "radical renegade." Johnson was a Southern man, an +old-line State Rights Democrat, somewhat anti-negro in feeling. He knew +no book except the Constitution, and that he loved with all his soul. +Sure of the correctness of his position, he was too stubborn to change +or to compromise. He was no more to be moved than Stevens or Sumner. To +overcome Johnson's vetoes required two-thirds of each House of Congress; +to impeach and remove him would require only a majority of the House and +two-thirds of the Senate. + +The desired occasion for impeachment was furnished by Johnson's attempt +to get Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, out of the Cabinet. +Stanton held radical views and was at no time sympathetic with or loyal +to Johnson, but he loved office too well to resign along with those +cabinet members who could not follow the President in his struggle with +Congress. He was seldom frank and sincere in his dealings with the +President, and kept up an underhand correspondence with the radical +leaders, even assisting in framing some of the reconstruction +legislation which was designed to render Johnson powerless. In him the +radicals had a representative within the President's Cabinet. + +Wearied of Stanton's disloyalty, Johnson asked him to resign and, upon a +refusal, suspended him in August, 1867, and placed General Grant in +temporary charge of the War Department. General Grant, Chief Justice +Chase, and Secretary McCulloch, though they all disliked Stanton, +advised the President against suspending him. But Johnson was +determined. About the same time he exercised his power in removing +Sheridan and Sickles from their commands in the South and replaced them +with Hancock and Canby. The radicals were furious, but Johnson had +secured at least the support of a loyal Cabinet. + +The suspension of Stanton was reported to the Senate in December, 1867, +and on January 13, 1868, the Senate voted not to concur in the +President's action. Upon receiving notice of the vote in the Senate, +Grant at once left the War Department and Stanton again took possession. +Johnson now charged Grant with failing to keep a promise either to hold +on himself or to make it possible to appoint some one else who would +hold on until the matter might be brought into the courts. The President +by this accusation angered Grant and threw him with his great influence +into the arms of the radicals. + +Against the advice of his leading counselors Johnson persisted in his +intention to keep Stanton out of the Cabinet. Accordingly on the 21st of +February he dismissed Stanton from office and appointed Lorenzo Thomas, +the Adjutant General, as acting Secretary of War. Stanton, advised by +the radicals in Congress to "stick," refused to yield possession to +Thomas and had him arrested for violation of the Tenure of Office Act. +The matter now was in the courts where Johnson wanted it, but the +radical leaders, fearing that the courts would decide against Stanton +and the reconstruction acts, had the charges against Thomas withdrawn. +Thus failed the last attempt to get the reconstruction laws before the +courts. On the 22nd of February the President sent to the Senate the +name of Thomas Ewing, General Sherman's father-in-law, as Secretary of +War, but no attention was paid to the nomination. + +On February 24, 1868, the House voted, 128 to 47, to impeach the +President "of high crimes and misdemeanors in office." The Senate was +formally notified the next day and on the 4th of March the seven +managers selected by the House appeared before the Senate with the +eleven articles of impeachment. At first it seemed to the public that +the impeachment proceedings were merely the culmination of a struggle +for the control of the army. There were rumors that Johnson had plans to +use the army against Congress and against reconstruction. General Grant, +directed by Johnson to accept orders from Stanton only if he were +satisfied that they came from the President, refused to follow these +instructions. Stanton, professing to fear violence, barricaded himself +in the War Department and was furnished with a guard of soldiers by +General Grant, who from this time used his influence in favor of +impeachment. Excited by the most sensational rumors, some people even +believed a new rebellion to be imminent. + +The impeachment was rushed to trial by the House managers and was not +ended until the decision was taken by the votes of the 16th and 26th of +May. The eleven articles of impeachment consisted of summaries of all +that had been charged against Johnson, except the charge that he had +been an accomplice in the murder of Lincoln. The only one which had any +real basis was the first, which asserted that he had violated the Tenure +of Office Act in trying to remove Stanton. The other articles were +merely expansions of the first or were based upon Johnson's opposition +to reconstruction or upon his speeches in criticism of Congress. Nothing +could be said about his control of the patronage, though this was one of +the unwritten charges. J. W. Schuckers, in his life of Chase, says that +the radical leaders "felt the vast importance of the presidential +patronage; many of them felt, too, that, according to the maxim that to +the victors belong the spoils, the Republican party was rightfully +entitled to the Federal patronage, and they determined to get possession +of it. There was but one method and that was by impeachment and removal +of the President." + +The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell, +all better known as politicians than as lawyers. The President was +represented by an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson, +and Groesbeck. Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the +President but withdrew under conditions not entirely creditable to +himself. + +The trial was a one-sided affair. The President's counsel were refused +more than six days for the preparation of the case. Chief Justice Chase, +who presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a +judicial and not a political body, and he accordingly ruled that only +legal evidence should be admitted; but the Senate majority preferred to +assume that they were settling a political question. Much evidence +favorable to the President was excluded, but everything else was +admitted. As the trial went on the country began to understand that the +impeachment was a mistake. Few people wanted to see Senator Wade made +President. The partisan attitude of the Senate majority and the weakness +of the case against Johnson had much to do in moderating public opinion, +and the timely nomination of General Schofield as Secretary of War after +Stanton's resignation reassured those who feared that the army might be +placed under some extreme Democrat. + +As the time drew near for the decision, every possible pressure was +brought by the radicals to induce senators to vote for conviction. To +convict the President, thirty-six votes were necessary. There were only +twelve Democrats in the Senate, but all were known to be in favor of +acquittal. When the test came on the 16th of May, seven Republicans +voted with the Democrats for acquittal on the eleventh article. Another +vote on the 26th of May, on the first and second articles, showed that +conviction was not possible. The radical legislative reaction was thus +checked at its highest point and the presidency as a part of the +American governmental system was no longer in danger. The seven +Republicans had, however, signed their own political death warrants; +they were never forgiven by the party leaders. + +The presidential campaign was beginning to take shape even before the +impeachment trial began. Both the Democrats and the reorganized +Republicans were turning with longing toward General Grant as a +candidate. Though he had always been a Democrat, nevertheless when +Johnson actually called him a liar and a promise breaker Grant went over +to the radicals and was nominated for President on May 20, 1868, by the +National Union Republican party. Schuyler Colfax was the candidate for +Vice President. The Democrats, who could have won with Grant and who +under good leadership still had a bare chance to win, nominated Horatio +Seymour of New York and Francis P. Blair of Missouri. The former had +served as war governor of New York, while the latter was considered an +extreme Democrat who believed that the radical reconstruction of the +South should be stopped, the troops withdrawn, and the people left to +form their own governments. The Democratic platform pronounced itself +opposed to the reconstruction policy, but Blair's opposition was too +extreme for the North. Seymour, more moderate and a skillful campaigner, +made headway in the rehabilitation of the Democratic party. The +Republican party declared for radical reconstruction and negro suffrage +in the South but held that each Northern State should be allowed to +settle the suffrage for itself. It was not a courageous platform, but +Grant was popular and carried his party through to success. + +The returns showed that in the election Grant had carried twenty-six +States with 214 electoral votes, while Seymour had carried only eight +States with 80 votes. But an examination of the popular vote, which was +3,000,000 for Grant and 2,700,000 for Seymour, gave the radicals cause +for alarm, for it showed that the Democrats had more white votes than +the Republicans, whose total included nearly 700,000 blacks. To insure +the continuance of the radicals in power, the Fifteenth Amendment was +framed and sent out to the States on February 26, 1869. This amendment +appeared not only to make safe the negro majorities in the South but +also gave the ballot to the negroes in a score of Northern States and +thus assured, for a time at least, 900,000 negro voters for the +Republican party. + +When Johnson's term ended and he gave place to President Grant, four +States were still unreconstructed--Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, in +which the reconstruction had failed, and Georgia, which, after +accomplishing reconstruction, had again been placed under military rule +by Congress. In Virginia, which was too near the capital for such rough +work as readmitted Arkansas and Alabama into the Union, the new +constitution was so severe in its provisions for disfranchisement that +the disgusted district commander would not authorize the expenditure +necessary to have it voted on. In Mississippi a similar constitution had +failed of adoption, and in Texas the strife of party factions, radical +and moderate Republican, had so delayed the framing of the constitution +that it had not come to a vote. + +The Republican politicians, however, wanted the offices in these States, +and Congress by its resolution of February 18, 1869 directed the +district commanders to remove all civil officers who could not take the +"ironclad" oath and to appoint those who could subscribe to it. An +exception, however, was made in favor of the scalawags who had supported +reconstruction and whose disabilities had been removed by Congress. + +President Grant was anxious to complete the reconstruction and +recommended to Congress that the constitutions of Virginia and +Mississippi be re-submitted to the people with a separate vote on the +disfranchising sections. Congress, now in harmony with the Executive, +responded by placing the reconstruction of the three States in the hands +of the President, but with the proviso that each State must ratify the +Fifteenth Amendment. Grant thereupon fixed a time for voting in each +State and directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the disfranchising +clauses be submitted separately. As a result, the constitutions were +ratified but proscription was voted down. The radicals secured control +of Mississippi and Texas, but a conservative combination carried +Virginia and thus came near keeping the State out of the Union. Finally, +during the early months of 1870 the three States were readmitted. + +With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed. In +June, 1868, Georgia had been readmitted with the first of the +reconstructed States. The state legislature at once expelled the +twenty-seven negro members, on the ground that the recent legislation +and the state constitution gave the negroes the right to vote but not to +hold office. Congress, which had already admitted the Georgia +representatives, refused to receive the senators and turned the State +back to military control. In 1869-70 Georgia was again reconstructed +after a drastic purging of the Legislature by the military commander, +the reseating of the negro members, and the ratification of both the +Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The State was readmitted to +representation in July, 1870, after the failure of a strong effort to +extend for two years the carpetbag government of the State. + +Upon the last States to pass under the radical yoke heavier conditions +were imposed than upon the earlier ones. Not only were they required to +ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, but the "fundamental conditions" +embraced, in addition to the prohibition against future change of the +suffrage, a requirement that the negroes should never be deprived of +school and officeholding rights. + +The congressional plan of reconstruction had thus been carried through +by able leaders in the face of the opposition of a united white South, +nearly half the North, the President, the Supreme Court, and in the +beginning a majority of Congress. This success was due to the poor +leadership of the conservatives and to the ability and solidarity of the +radicals led by Stevens and Sumner. The radicals had a definite program; +the moderates had not. The object of the radicals was to secure the +supremacy in the South by the aid of the negroes and exclusion of +whites. Was this policy politically wise? It was at least temporarily +successful. The choice offered by the radicals seemed to lie between +military rule for an indefinite period and negro suffrage; and since +most Americans found military rule distasteful, they preferred to try +negro suffrage. But, after all, negro suffrage had to be supported by +military rule, and in the end both failed completely. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +The Union League of America + +The elections of 1867-68 showed that the negroes were well organized +under the control of the radical Republican leaders and that their +former masters had none of the influence over the blacks in political +matters which had been feared by some Northern friends of the negro and +had been hoped for by such Southern leaders as Governor Patton and +General Hampton. Before 1865 the discipline of slavery, the influence of +the master's family, and of the Southern church, had sufficed to control +the blacks. But after emancipation they looked to the Federal soldiers +and Union officials as the givers of freedom and the guardians of the +future. + +From the Union soldiers, especially the negro troops, from the Northern +teachers, the missionaries and the organizers of negro churches, from +the Northern officials and traveling politicians, the negroes learned +that their interests were not those of the whites. The attitude of the +average white in the South often confirmed this growing estrangement. It +was difficult even for the white leaders to explain the riots at Memphis +and New Orleans. And those who sincerely wished well for the negro and +who desired to control him for the good of both races could not possibly +assure him that he was fit for the suffrage. For even Patton and Hampton +must tell him that they knew better than he and that he should follow +their advice. + +The appeal made to freedmen by the Northern leaders was in every way +more forceful, because it had behind it the prestige of victory in war +and for the future it could promise anything. Until 1867 the principal +agency in bringing about the separation of the races had been the +Freedmen's Bureau which, with its authority, its courts, its rations, +clothes, and its "forty acres and a mule," did effective work in +breaking down the influence of the master. But to understand fully the +almost absolute control exercised over the blacks in 1867-68 by alien +adventurers one must examine the workings of an oath-bound society known +as the Union or Loyal League. It was this order, dominated by a few +radical whites, which organized, disciplined, and controlled the +ignorant negro masses and paralyzed the influence of the conservative +whites. + +The Union League of America had its origin in Ohio in the fall of 1862, +when the outlook for the Union cause was gloomy. The moderate policies +of the Lincoln Administration had alienated those in favor of extreme +measures; the Confederates had won military successes in the field; the +Democrats had made some gains in the elections; the Copperheads ¹ were +actively opposed to the Washington Government; the Knights of the Golden +Circle were organizing to resist the continuance of the war; and the +Emancipation Proclamation had chilled the loyalty of many Union men, +which was everywhere at a low ebb, especially in the Northern cities. It +was to counteract these depressing influences that the Union League +movement was begun among those who were associated in the work of the +United States Sanitary Commission. Observing the threatening state of +public opinion, members of this organization proposed that "loyalty be +organized, consolidated and made effective." + +¹ See Abraham Lincoln and the Union, by Nathaniel W. Stephenson (in The +Chronicles of America), pp. 156-7, 234-5 + +The first organization was made by eleven men in Cleveland, Ohio, in +November, 1862. The Philadelphia Union League was organized a month +later, and in January, 1863, the New York Union League followed. The +members were pledged to uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to the +Union, to complete subordination of political views to this loyalty, and +to the repudiation of any belief in state rights. The other large cities +followed the example of Philadelphia and New York, and soon Leagues, +connected in a loose federation, were formed all through the North. They +were social as well as political in their character and assumed as their +task the stimulation and direction of loyal Union opinion. + +As the Union armies proceeded to occupy the South, the Union League sent +its agents among the disaffected Southern people. Its agents cared for +negro refugees in the contraband camps and in the North. In such work +the League coöperated with the various Freedmen's Aid Societies, the +Department of Negro Affairs, and later with the Freedmen's Bureau. Part +of the work of the League was to distribute campaign literature, and +many of the radical pamphlets on reconstruction and the negro problem +bore the Union League imprint. The New York League sent out about +seventy thousand copies of various publications, while the Philadelphia +League far surpassed this record, circulating within eight years four +million five hundred thousand copies of 144 different pamphlets. The +literature consisted largely of accounts of "Southern outrages" taken +from the reports of Bureau agents and similar sources. + +With the close of the Civil War the League did not cease its active +interest in things political. It was one of the first organizations to +declare for negro suffrage and the disfranchisement of Confederates; it +held steadily to this declaration during the four years following the +war; and it continued as a sort of bureau in the radical Republican +party for the purpose of controlling the negro vote in the South. Its +representatives were found in the lobbies of Congress demanding extreme +measures, endorsing the reconstruction policies of Congress, and +condemning the course of the President. After the first year or two of +reconstruction the Leagues in the larger Northern cities began to grow +away from the strictly political Union League of America and tended to +become mere social clubs for members of the same political belief. The +eminently respectable Philadelphia and New York clubs had little in +common with the leagues of the Southern and Border States except a +general adherence to the radical program. + +Even before the end of the war the League was extending its organization +into the parts of the Confederacy held by the Federal forces, admitting +to membership the army officers and the leading Unionists, though +maintaining for the sake of the latter "a discreet secrecy." With the +close of the war and the establishment of army posts over the South the +League grew rapidly. The civilians who followed the army, the Bureau +agents, the missionaries, and the Northern teachers formed one class of +membership; and the loyalists of the hill and mountain country, who had +become disaffected toward the Confederate administration and had formed +such orders as the Heroes of America, the Red String Band, and the Peace +Society, formed another class. Soon there were added to these the +deserters, a few old line Whigs who intensely disliked the Democrats, +and others who decided to cast their lot with the victors. The +disaffected politicians of the up-country, who wanted to be cared for in +the reconstruction, saw in the organization a means of dislodging from +power the political leaders of the low country. It has been estimated +that thirty per cent of the white men of the hill and mountain counties +of the South joined the Union League in 1865-66. They cared little about +the original objects of the order but hoped to make it the nucleus of an +anti-Democratic political organization. + +But on the admission of negroes into the lodges or councils controlled +by Northern men the native white members began to withdraw. From the +beginning the Bureau agents, the teachers, and the preachers had been +holding meetings of negroes, to whom they gave advice about the problems +of freedom. Very early these advisers of the blacks grasped the +possibilities inherent in their control of the schools, the rationing +system, and the churches. By the spring of 1866 the negroes were widely +organized under this leadership, and it needed but slight change to +convert the negro meetings into local councils of the Union League. ¹ As +soon as it seemed likely that Congress would win in its struggle with +the President the guardians of the negro planned their campaign for the +control of the race. Negro leaders were organized into councils of the +League or into Union Republican Clubs. Over the South went the +organizers, until by 1868 the last negroes were gathered into the fold. + +¹ Of these teachers of the local blacks, E. L. Godkin, editor of the New +York Nation, who had supported the reconstruction acts, said: "Worse +instructors for men emerging from slavery and coming for the first time +face to face with the problems of free life than the radical agitators +who have undertaken the political guidance of the blacks it would be +hard to meet with." + +The native whites did not all desert the Union League when the negroes +were brought in. Where the blacks were most numerous the desertion of +whites was general, but in the regions where they were few some of the +whites remained for several years. The elections of 1868 showed a +falling off of the white radical vote from that of 1867, one measure of +the extent of loss of whites. From this time forward the order consisted +mainly of blacks with enough whites for leaders. In the Black Belt the +membership of native whites was discouraged by requiring an oath to the +effect that secession was treason. The carpetbagger had found that he +could control the negro without the help of the scalawag. The League +organization was soon extended and centralized; in every black district +there was a Council; for the State there was a Grand Council; and for +the United States there was a National Grand Council with headquarters +in New York City. + +The influence of the League over the negro was due in large degree to +the mysterious secrecy of the meetings, the weird initiation ceremony +that made him feel fearfully good from his head to his heels, the +imposing ritual, and the songs. The ritual, it is said, was not used in +the North; it was probably adopted for the particular benefit of the +African. The would-be Leaguer was informed that the emblems of the order +were the altar, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the +Constitution of the United States, the flag of the Union, censer, sword, +gavel, ballot box, sickle, shuttle, anvil, and other emblems of +industry. He was told to the accompaniment of clanking chains and groans +that the objects of the order were to preserve liberty, to perpetuate +the Union, to maintain the laws and the Constitution, to secure the +ascendancy of American institutions, to protect, defend, and strengthen +all loyal men and members of the Union League in all rights of person +and property, to demand the elevation of labor, to aid in the education +of laboring men, and to teach the duties of American citizenship. This +enumeration of the objects of the League sounded well and was +impressive. At this point the negro was always willing to take an oath +of secrecy, after which he was asked to swear with a solemn oath to +support the principles of the Declaration of Independence, to pledge +himself to resist all attempts to overthrow the United States, to strive +for the maintenance of liberty, the elevation of labor, the education of +all people in the duties of citizenship, to practice friendship and +charity to all of the order, and to support for election or appointment +to office only such men as were supporters of these principles and +measures. + +The council then sang Hail, Columbia! and The Star Spangled Banner, +after which an official lectured the candidates, saying that though the +designs of traitors had been thwarted, there were yet to be secured +legislative triumphs and the complete ascendancy of the true principles +of popular government, equal liberty, education and elevation of the +workmen, and the overthrow at the ballot box of the old oligarchy of +political leaders. After prayer by the chaplain, the room was darkened, +alcohol on salt flared up with a ghastly light as the "fire of liberty," +and the members joined hands in a circle around the candidate, who was +made to place one hand on the flag and, with the other raised, swear +again to support the government and to elect true Union men to office. +Then placing his hand on a Bible, for the third time he swore to keep +his oath, and repeated after the president "the Freedmen's Pledge": "To +defend and perpetuate freedom and the Union, I pledge my life, my +fortune, and my sacred honor. So help me God!" John Brown's Body was +then sung, the president charged the members in a long speech concerning +the principles of the order, and the marshal instructed the neophyte in +the signs. To pass one's self as a Leaguer, the "Four L's" had to be +given: (1) with right hand raised to heaven, thumb and third finger +touching ends over palm, pronounce "Liberty"; (2) bring the hand down +over the shoulder and say "Lincoln"; (3) drop the hand open at the side +and say "Loyal"; (4) catch the thumb in the vest or in the waistband and +pronounce "League." This ceremony of initiation proved a most effective +means of impressing and controlling the negro through his love and fear +of secret, mysterious, and midnight mummery. An oath taken in daylight +might be forgotten before the next day; not so an oath taken in the dead +of night under such impressive circumstances. After passing through the +ordeal, the negro usually remained faithful. + +In each populous precinct there was at least one council of the League, +and always one for blacks. In each town or city there were two councils, +one for the whites, and another, with white officers, for the blacks. +The council met once a week, sometimes oftener, nearly always at night, +and in a negro church or schoolhouse. Guards, armed with rifles and +shotguns, were stationed about the place of meeting in order to keep +away intruders. Members of some councils made it a practice to attend +the meetings armed as if for battle. In these meetings the negroes +listened to inflammatory speeches by the would-be statesmen of the new +régime; here they were drilled in a passionate conviction that their +interests and those of the Southern whites were eternally at war. + +White men who joined the order before the negroes were admitted and who +left when the latter became members asserted that the negroes were +taught in these meetings that the only way to have peace and plenty, to +get "the forty acres and a mule," was to kill some of the leading whites +in each community as a warning to others. In North Carolina twenty-eight +barns were burned in one county by negroes who believed that Governor +Holden, the head of the State League, had ordered it. The council in +Tuscumbia, Alabama, received advice from Memphis to use the torch +because the blacks were at war with the white race. The advice was +taken. Three men went in front of the council as an advance guard, three +followed with coal oil and fire, and others guarded the rear. The plan +was to burn the whole town, but first one negro and then another +insisted on having some white man's house spared because "he is a good +man." In the end no residences were burned, and a happy compromise was +effected by burning the Female Academy. Three of the leaders were +afterwards lynched. + +The general belief of the whites was that the ultimate object of the +order was to secure political power and thus bring about on a large +scale the confiscation of the property of Confederates, and meanwhile to +appropriate and destroy the property of their political opponents +wherever possible. Chicken houses, pigpens, vegetable gardens, and +orchards were visited by members returning from the midnight conclaves. +During the presidential campaign of 1868 the North Carolina League sent +out circular instructions to the blacks advising them to drill regularly +and to join the militia, for if Grant were not elected the negroes would +go back to slavery; if he were elected, the negroes were to have farms, +mules, and offices. + +As soon as possible after the war the negroes had supplied themselves +with guns and dogs as badges of freedom. They carried their guns to the +League meetings, often marching in military formation, went through the +drill there, marched home again along the roads, shouting, firing, and +indulging in boasts and threats against persons whom they disliked. +Later, military parades in the daytime were much favored. Several +hundred negroes would march up and down the streets, abusing whites, and +shoving them off the sidewalk or out of the road. But on the whole, +there was very little actual violence, though the whites were much +alarmed at times. That outrages were comparatively few was due, not to +any sensible teachings of the leaders, but to the fundamental good +nature of the blacks, who were generally content with mere impudence. + +The relations between the races, indeed, continued on the whole to be +friendly until 1867-68. For a while, in some localities before the +advent of the League, and in others where the Bureau was conducted by +native magistrates, the negroes looked to their old masters for guidance +and advice; and the latter, for the good of both races, were most eager +to retain a moral control over the blacks. They arranged barbecues and +picnics for the negroes, made speeches, gave good advice, and believed +that everything promised well. Sometimes the negroes themselves arranged +the festival and invited prominent whites, for whom a separate table +attended by negro waiters was reserved; and after dinner there followed +speeches by both whites and blacks. + +With the organization of the League, the negroes grew more reserved, and +finally became openly unfriendly to the whites. The League alone, +however, was not responsible for this change. The League and the Bureau +had to some extent the same personnel, and it is frequently impossible +to distinguish clearly between the influence of the two. In many ways +the League was simply the political side of the Bureau. The preaching +and teaching missionaries were also at work. And apart from the +organized influences at work, the poor whites never laid aside their +hostility towards the blacks, bond or free. + +When the campaigns grew exciting, the discipline of the order was used +to prevent the negroes from attending Democratic meetings and hearing +Democratic speakers. The leaders even went farther and forbade the +attendance of the blacks at political meetings where the speakers were +not endorsed by the League. Almost invariably the scalawag disliked the +Leaguer, black or white, and as a political teacher often found himself +proscribed by the League. At a Republican mass meeting in Alabama a +white Republican who wanted to make a speech was shouted down by the +negroes because he was "opposed to the Loyal League." He then went to +another place to speak but was followed by the crowd, which refused to +allow him to say anything. All Republicans in good standing had to join +the League and swear that secession was treason--a rather stiff dose for +the scalawag. Judge (later Governor) David P. Lewis, of Alabama, was a +member for a short while but he soon became disgusted and published a +denunciation of the order. Albion W. Tourgée, the author, a radical +judge, was the first chief of the League in North Carolina and was +succeeded by Governor Holden. In Alabama, Generals Swayne, Spencer, and +Warner, all candidates for the United States Senate, hastened to join +the order. + +As soon as a candidate was nominated by the League, it was the duty of +every member to support him actively. Failure to do so resulted in a +fine or other more severe punishment, and members who had been expelled +were still considered under the control of the officials. The League +was, in fact, the machine of the radical party, and all candidates had +to be governed by its edicts. As the Montgomery Council declared, the +Union League was "the right arm of the Union-Republican party in the +United States." + +Every negro was ex colore a member or under the control of the League. +In the opinion of the League, white Democrats were bad enough, but black +Democrats were not to be tolerated. It was almost necessary, as a +measure of personal safety, for each black to support the radical +program. It was possible in some cases for a negro to refrain from +taking an active part in political affairs. He might even fail to vote. +But it was actually dangerous for a black to be a Democrat; that is, to +try to follow his old master in politics. The whites in many cases were +forced to advise their few faithful black friends to vote the radical +ticket in order to escape mistreatment. Those who showed Democratic +leanings were proscribed in negro society and expelled from negro +churches; the negro women would not "proshay" (appreciate) a black +Democrat. Such a one was sure to find that influence was being brought +to bear upon his dusky sweetheart or his wife to cause him to see the +error of his ways, and persistent adherence to the white party would +result in his losing her. The women were converted to radicalism before +the men, and they almost invariably used their influence strongly in +behalf of the League. If moral suasion failed to cause the delinquent to +see the light, other methods were used. Threats were common and usually +sufficed. Fines were levied by the League on recalcitrant members. In +case of the more stubborn, a sound beating was effective to bring about +a change of heart. The offending party was "bucked and gagged," or he +was tied by the thumbs and thrashed. Usually the sufferer was too afraid +to complain of the way he was treated. + +Some of the methods of the Loyal League were similar to those of the +later Ku Klux Klan. Anonymous warnings were sent to obnoxious +individuals, houses were burned, notices were posted at night in public +places and on the houses of persons who had incurred the hostility of +the order. In order to destroy the influence of the whites where kindly +relations still existed, an "exodus order" issued through the League +directed all members to leave their old homes and obtain work elsewhere. +Some of the blacks were loath to comply with this order, but to +remonstrances from the whites the usual reply was: "De word done sent to +de League. We got to go." For special meetings the negroes were in some +regions called together by signal guns. In this way the call for a +gathering went out over a county in a few minutes and a few hours later +nearly all the members in the county assembled at the appointed place. + +Negroes as organizing agents were inclined to go to extremes and for +that reason were not so much used. In Bullock County, Alabama, a council +of the League was organized under the direction of a negro emissary, who +proceeded to assume the government of the community. A list of crimes +and punishments was adopted, a court with various officials was +established, and during the night the negroes who opposed the new régime +were arrested. But the black sheriff and his deputy were in turn +arrested by the civil authorities. The negroes then organized for +resistance, flocked into the county seat, and threatened to exterminate +the whites and take possession of the county. Their agents visited the +plantations and forced the laborers to join them by showing orders +purporting to be from General Swayne, the commander in the State, giving +them the authority to kill all who resisted them. Swayne, however, sent +out detachments of troops and arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and +the League government collapsed. + +After it was seen that existing political institutions were to be +overturned in the process of reconstruction, the white councils of the +League and, to a certain extent, the negro councils were converted into +training schools for the leaders of the new party soon to be formed in +the State by act of Congress. The few whites who were in control were +unwilling to admit more white members to share in the division of the +spoils; terms of admission became more stringent, and, especially after +the passage of the reconstruction acts in March, 1867, many white +applicants were rejected. The alien element from the North was in +control and as a result, where the blacks were numerous, the largest +plums fell to the carpetbaggers. The negro leaders--the politicians, +preachers, and teachers--trained in the League acted as subordinates to +the whites and were sent out to drum up the country negroes when +elections drew near. The negroes were given minor positions when offices +were more plentiful than carpetbaggers. Later, after some complaint, a +larger share of the offices fell to them. + +The League counted its largest white membership in 1865-66, and after +that date it steadily decreased. The largest negro membership was +recorded in 1867 and 1868. The total membership was never made known. In +North Carolina the order claimed from seventy-five thousand to one +hundred and twenty-five thousand members; in States with larger negro +populations the membership was probably quite as large. After the +election of 1868 only the councils in the towns remained active, many of +them transformed into political clubs, loosely organized under local +political leaders. The plantation negro needed less looking after, and +except in the largest towns he became a kind of visiting member of the +council in the town. The League as a political organization gradually +died out by 1870. ¹ + +¹ The Ku Klux Klan had much to do with the decline of the organization. +The League as the ally and successor of the Freedmen's Bureau was one of +the causes of the Ku Klux movement, because it helped to create the +conditions which made such a movement inevitable. As early as 1870 the +radical leaders missed the support formerly given by the League, and an +urgent appeal was sent out all over the South from headquarters in New +York advocating its reëstablishment to assist in carrying the elections +of 1870. + +The League had served its purpose. It had enabled a few outsiders to +control the negro by separating the races politically and it had +compelled the negroes to vote as radicals for several years, when +without its influence they would either not have voted at all or would +have voted as Democrats along with their former masters. The order was +necessary to the existence of the radical party in the Black Belt. No +ordinary political organization could have welded the blacks into a +solid party. The Freedmen's Bureau, which had much influence over the +negroes, was too weak in numbers to control the negroes in politics. The +League finally absorbed the personnel of the Bureau and turned its +prestige and its organization to political advantage. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Church and School + +Reconstruction in the State was closely related to reconstruction in the +churches and the schools. Here also were to be found the same hostile +elements: negro and white, Unionist and Confederate, victor and +vanquished. The church was at that time an important institution in the +South, more so than in the North, and in both sections more important +than it is today. It was inevitable, therefore, that ecclesiastical +reconstruction should give rise to bitter feelings. + +Something should be said of conditions in the churches when the Federal +armies occupied the land. The Southern organizations had lost many +ministers and many of their members, and frequently their buildings were +used as hospitals or had been destroyed. Their administration was +disorganized and their treasuries were empty. The Unionists, scattered +here and there but numerous in the mountain districts, no longer wished +to attend the Southern churches. + +The military censorship in church matters, which continued for a year in +some districts, was irritating, especially in the Border States and in +the Union districts where Northern preachers installed by the army were +endeavoring to remain against the will of the people. Mobs sometimes +drove them out; others were left to preach to empty houses or to a few +Unionists and officers, while the congregation withdrew to build a new +church. The problems of negro membership in the white churches and of +the future relations of the Northern and Southern denominations were +pressing for settlement. + +All Northern organizations acted in 1865 upon the assumption that a +reunion of the churches must take place and that the divisions existing +before the war should not be continued, since slavery, the cause of the +division, had been destroyed. But they insisted that the reunion must +take place upon terms named by the "loyal" churches, that the negroes +must also come under "loyal" religious direction, and that tests must be +applied to the Confederate sinners asking for admission, in order that +the enormity of their crimes should be made plain to them. But this +policy did not succeed. The Confederates objected to being treated as +"rebels and traitors" and to "sitting upon stools of repentance" before +they should be received again into the fold. + +Only two denominations were reunited--the Methodist Protestant, the +northern section of which came over to the southern, and the Protestant +Episcopal, in which moderate counsels prevailed and into which +Southerners were welcomed back. The Southern Baptists maintained their +separate existence and reorganized the Southern Baptist Convention, to +which came many of the Baptist associations in the Border States; the +Catholics did not divide before 1861 and therefore had no reconstruction +problems to solve; and the smaller denominations maintained the +organizations which they had before 1861. A Unionist preacher testified +before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction that even the Southern +Quakers "are about as decided in regard to the respectability of +secession as any other class of people." + +Two other great Southern churches, the Presbyterian and the Methodist +Episcopal, grew stronger after the Civil War. The tendency toward +reunion of the Presbyterians was checked when one Northern branch +declared as "a condition precedent to the admission of southern +applicants that these confess as sinful all opinions before held in +regard to slavery, nullification, rebellion and slavery, and stigmatize +secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the southern churches as a +schism." Another Northern group declared that Southern ministers must be +placed on probation and must either prove their loyalty or profess +repentance for disloyalty and repudiate their former opinions. As a +result several Presbyterian bodies in the South joined in a strong +union, to which also adhered the synods of several Border States. + +The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was confronted with conditions +similar to those which prevented the reunion of the Presbyterians. The +Northern church, according to the declaration of its authorities, also +came down to divide the spoils and to "disintegrate and absorb" the +"schismatic" Southern churches. Already many Southern pulpits were +filled with Northern Methodist ministers placed there under military +protection; and when they finally realized that reunion was not +possible, these Methodist worthies resolved to occupy the late +Confederacy as a mission field and to organize congregations of blacks +and whites who were "not tainted with treason." Bishops and clergymen +charged with this work carried it on vigorously for a few years in close +connection with political reconstruction. + +The activities of the Northern Methodists stimulated the Southern +Methodists to a quick reorganization. The surviving bishops met in +August, 1865, and bound together their shaken church. In reply to +suggestions of reunion they asserted that the Northern Methodists had +become "incurably radical," were too much involved in politics, and, +further, that they had, without right, seized and were still holding +Southern church buildings. They objected also to the way the Northern +church referred to the Southerners as "schismatics" and to the Southern +church as one built on slavery and therefore, now that slavery was gone, +to be reconstructed. The bishops warned their people against the +missionary efforts of the Northern brethren and against the attempts to +"disintegrate and absorb" Methodism in the South. Within five years +after the war the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was greatly +increased in numbers by the accession of conferences in Maryland, +Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and even from above the Ohio, while the +Northern Methodist Church was able to organize only a few white +congregations outside of the stronger Unionist districts, but continued +to labor in the South as a missionary field. ¹ + +¹ The church situation after the war was well described in 1866 by an +editorial writer in the Nation who pointed out that the Northern +churches thought the South determined to make the religious division +permanent, though "slavery no longer furnishes a pretext for +separation." "Too much pains were taken to bring about an ecclesiastical +reunion, and irritating offers of reconciliation are made by the +Northern churches, all based on the assumption that the South has not +only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. We expect them +to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers of forgiveness. But the +Southern people look upon a 'loyal' missionary as a political emissary, +and 'loyal' men do not at present possess the necessary qualifications +for evangelizing the Southerners or softening their hearts, and are sure +not to succeed in doing so. We look upon their defeat as retribution and +expect them to do the same. It will do no good if we tell the Southerner +that 'we will forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, +offer to pray with them, preach with them, and labor with them over +their hideous sins.'" + +But if the large Southern churches held their white membership and even +gained in numbers and territory, they fought a losing fight to retain +their black members. It was assumed by Northern ecclesiastics that +whether a reunion of whites took place or not, the negroes would receive +spiritual guidance from the North. This was necessary, they said, +because the Southern whites were ignorant and impoverished and because +"the state of mind among even the best classes of Southern whites +rendered them incapable ... of doing justice to the people whom they had +so long persistently wronged." Further, it was also necessary for +political reasons to remove the negroes from Southern religious control. + +For obvious reasons, however, the Southern churches wanted to hold their +negro members. They declared themselves in favor of negro education and +of better organized religious work among the blacks, and made every sort +of accommodation to hold them. The Baptists organized separate +congregations, with white or black pastors as desired, and associations +of black churches. In 1866 the Methodist General Conference authorized +separate congregations, quarterly conferences, annual conferences, even +a separate jurisdiction, with negro preachers, presiding elders, and +bishops--but all to no avail. Every Northern political, religious, or +ilitary agency in the South worked for separation, and negro preachers +were not long in seeing the greater advantages which they would have in +independent churches. + +Much of the separate organization was accomplished in mutual good will, +particularly in the Baptist ranks. The Reverend I. T. Tichenor, a +prominent Baptist minister, has described the process as it took place +in the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. The church had nine hundred +members, of whom six hundred were black. The negroes received a regular +organization of their own under the supervision of the white pastors. +When a separation of the two bodies was later deemed desirable, it was +inaugurated by a conference of the negroes which passed a resolution +couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the division, +and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. The white +church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies united in +erecting a suitable house of worship for the negroes. Until the new +church was completed, both congregations continued to occupy jointly the +old house of worship. The new house was paid for in large measure by the +white members of the church and by individuals in the community. As soon +as it was completed the colored church moved into it with its pastor, +board of deacons, committees of all sorts, and the whole machinery of +church life went into action without a jar. Similar accommodations +occurred in all the States of the South. + +The Methodists lost the greater part of their negro membership to two +organizations which came down from the North in 1865--the African +Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, +Zion. Large numbers also went over to the Northern Methodist Church. +After losing nearly three hundred thousand members, the Southern +Methodists came to the conclusion that the remaining seventy-eight +thousand negroes would be more comfortable in a separate organization +and therefore began in 1866 the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, with +bishops, conferences, and all the accompaniments of the parent Methodist +Church, which continued to give friendly aid but exercised no control. +For many years the Colored Methodist Church was under fire from the +other negro denominations, who called it the "rebel," the "Democratic," +the "old slavery" church. + +The negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterians were similarly set off +into a small African organization. The Southern Presbyterians and the +Episcopalians established separate congregations and missions under +white supervision but sanctioned no independent negro organization. +Consequently the negroes soon deserted these churches and went with +their own kind. + +Resentment at the methods employed by the Northern religious +carpetbaggers was strong among the Southern whites. "Emissaries of +Christ and the radical party" they were called by one Alabama leader. +Governor Lindsay of the same State asserted that the Northern +missionaries caused race hatred by teaching the negroes to regard the +whites as their natural enemies, who, if possible, would put them back +in slavery. Others were charged with teaching that to be on the safe +side, the blacks should get into a Northern church, and that "Christ +died for negroes and Yankees, not for rebels." + +The scalawags, also, developed a dislike of the Northern church work +among the negroes and it was impossible to organize mixed congregations. +Of the Reverend A. S. Lakin, a well-known agent of the Northern +Methodist Church in Alabama, Nicholas Davis, a North Alabama Unionist +and scalawag, said to the Ku Klux Committee: "The character of his +[Lakin's] speech was this: to teach the negroes that every man that was +born and raised in the Southern country was their enemy, that there was +no use trusting them, no matter what they said--if they said they were +for the Union or anything else. 'No use talking, they are your enemies.' +And he made a pretty good speech, too; awful; a hell of a one; ... +inflammatory and game, too.... It was enough to provoke the devil. Did +all the mischief he could ... I tell you, that old fellow is a hell of +an old rascal." + +For a time the white churches were annoyed by intrusions of strange +blacks set on by those who were bent on separating the races. Frequently +there were feuds in white or black congregations over the question of +joining some Northern body. Disputes over church property also arose and +continued for years. Lakin, referred to above, was charged with +"stealing" negro congregations and uniting them with the Cincinnati +Conference without their knowledge. The negroes were urged to demand +title to all buildings formerly used for negro worship, and the +Constitutional Convention of Alabama in 1867 directed that such property +must be turned over to them when claimed. + +The agents of the Northern churches were not greatly different from +other carpetbaggers and adventurers taking advantage of the general +confusion to seize a little power. Many were unscrupulous; others, +sincere and honest but narrow, bigoted, and intolerant, filled with +distrust of the Southern whites and with corresponding confidence in the +blacks and in themselves. The missionary and church publications were +quite as severe on the Southern people as any radical Congressman. The +publications of the Freedmen's Aid Society furnish illustrations of the +feelings and views of those engaged in the Southern work. They in turn +were made to feel the effects of a merciless social proscription. For +this some of them cared not at all, while others or their families felt +it keenly. One woman missionary wrote that she was delighted when a +Southern white would speak to her. A preacher in Virginia declared that +"the females, those especially whose pride has been humbled, are more +intense in their bitterness and endeavor to keep up a social ostracism +against Union and Northern people." The Ku Klux raids were directed +against preachers and congregations whose conduct was disagreeable to +the whites. Lakin asserted that while he was conducting a great revival +meeting among the hills of northern Alabama, Governor Smith and other +prominent and sinful scalawag politicians were there "under conviction" +and about to become converted. But in came the Klan and the congregation +scattered. Smith and the others were so angry and frightened that their +good feelings were dissipated, and the devil reëntered them, so that +Lakin said he was never able to "get a hold on them" again. For the +souls lost that night he held the Klan responsible. Lakin told several +marvelous stories of his hairbreadth escapes from death by assassination +which, if true, would be enough to ruin the reputation of northern +Alabama men for marksmanship. + +The reconstruction ended with conditions in the churches similar to +those in politics: the races were separated and unfriendly; Northern and +Southern church organizations were divided; and between them, especially +in the border and mountain districts, there existed factional quarrels +of a political origin, for every Northern Methodist was a Republican and +every Southern Methodist was a Democrat. + +The schools of the South, like the churches and political institutions, +were thrown into the melting pot of reconstruction. The spirit in which +the work was begun may be judged from the tone of the addresses made at +a meeting of the National Teachers Association in 1865. The president, +S. S. Greene, declared that "the old slave States are to be the new +missionary ground for the national school teacher." Francis Wayland, the +former president of Brown University, remarked that "it has been a war +of education and patriotism against ignorance and barbarism." President +Hill of Harvard spoke of the "new work of spreading knowledge and +intellectual culture over the regions that sat in darkness." Other +speakers asserted that the leading Southern whites were as much opposed +to free schools as to free governments and "we must treat them as +western farmers do the stumps in their clearings, work around them and +let them rot out"; that the majority of the whites were more ignorant +than the slaves; and that the negro must be educated and strengthened +against "the wiles, the guile, and hate of his baffled masters and their +minions." The New England Freedmen's Aid Society considered it necessary +to educate the negro "as a counteracting influence against the evil +councils and designs of the white freemen." + +The tasks that confronted the Southern States in 1865-67 were two: +first, to restore the shattered school systems of the whites; and +second, to arrange for the education of the negroes. Education of the +negro slave had been looked upon as dangerous and had been generally +forbidden. A small number of negroes could read and write, but there +were at the close of the war no schools for the children. Before 1861 +each State had developed at least the outlines of a school system. +Though hindered in development by the sparseness of the population and +by the prevalence in some districts of the Virginia doctrine that free +schools were only for the poor, public schools were nevertheless in +existence in 1861. Academies and colleges, however, were thronged with +students. When the war ended, the public schools were disorganized, and +the private academies and the colleges were closed. Teachers and +students had been dispersed; buildings had been burned or used for +hospitals and laboratories; and public libraries had virtually +disappeared. + +The colleges made efforts to open in the fall of 1865. Only one student +presented himself at the University of Alabama for matriculation; but +before June, 1866, the stronger colleges were again in operation. The +public or semi-public schools for the whites also opened in the fall. In +the cities where Federal military authorities had brought about the +employment of Northern teachers, there was some friction. In New +Orleans, for example, the teachers required the children to sing +Northern songs and patriotic airs. When the Confederates were restored +to power these teachers were dismissed. + +The movement toward negro education was general throughout the South. +Among the blacks themselves there was an intense desire to learn. They +wished to read the Bible, to be preachers, to be as the old master and +not have to work. Day and night and Sunday they crowded the schools. +According to an observer, ¹ "not only are individuals seen at study, and +under the most untoward circumstances, but in very many places I have +found what I will call 'native schools,' often rude and very imperfect, +but there they are, a group, perhaps, of all ages, trying to learn. Some +young man, some woman, or old preacher, in cellar, or shed, or corner of +a negro meeting-house, with the alphabet in hand, or a town +spelling-book, is their teacher. All are full of enthusiasm with the new +knowledge the book is imparting to them." + +¹ J. W. Alvord, Superintendent of Schools for the Freedmen's Bureau, +1866. + +Not only did the negroes want schooling, but both the North and the +South proposed to give it to them. Neither side was actuated entirely by +altruistic motives. A Hampton Institute teacher in later days remarked: +"When the combat was over and the Yankee school-ma'ams followed in the +train of the northern armies, the business of educating the negroes was +a continuation of hostilities against the vanquished and was so regarded +to a considerable extent on both sides." + +The Southern churches, through their bishops and clergy, the newspapers, +and prominent individuals such as J. L. M. Curry, John B. Gordon, J. L. +Orr, Governors Brown, Moore, and Patton, came out in favor of negro +education. Of this movement General Swayne said: "Quite early ... the +several religious denominations took strong ground in favor of the +education of the freedmen. The principal argument was an appeal to +sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, the +influence which must come from it be realized by others; but it is +believed that this was but the shield and weapon which men of unselfish +principle found necessary at first." The newspapers took the attitude +that the Southern whites should teach the negroes because it was their +duty, because it was good policy, and because if they did not do so some +one else would. The Advertiser of Montgomery stated that education was a +danger in slavery times but that under freedom ignorance became a +danger. For a time there were numerous schools taught by crippled +Confederates and by Southern women. + +But the education of the negro, like his religious training, was taken +from the control of the Southern white and was placed under the +direction of the Northern teachers and missionaries who swarmed into the +country under the fostering care of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Northern +churches, and the various Freedmen's Aid Societies. In three years the +Bureau spent six million dollars on negro schools and everywhere it +exercised supervision over them. The teachers pursued a policy akin to +that of the religious leaders. One Southerner likened them to the +"plagues of Egypt," another described them as "saints, fools, +incendiaries, fakirs, and plain business men and women." A Southern +woman remarked that "their spirit was often high and noble so far as the +black man's elevation was concerned, but toward the white it was bitter, +judicial, and unrelenting." The Northern teachers were charged with +ignorance of social conditions, with fraternizing with the blacks, and +with teaching them that the Southerners were traitors, "murderers of +Lincoln," who had been cruel taskmasters and who now wanted to restore +servitude. + +The reaction against negro education, which began to show itself before +reconstruction was inaugurated, found expression in the view of most +whites that "schooling ruins a negro." A more intelligent opinion was +that of J. L. M. Curry, a lifelong advocate of negro education: + +It is not just to condemn the negro for the education which he received +in the early years after the war. That was the period of reconstruction, +the saturnalia of misgovernment, the greatest possible hindrance to the +progress of the freedmen.... The education was unsettling, demoralizing, +[and it] pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as a quick method of +reversing social and political conditions. Nothing could have been +better devised for deluding the poor negro and making him the tool, the +slave of corrupt taskmasters. Education is a natural consequence of +citizenship and enfranchisement ... of freedom and humanity. But with +deliberate purpose to subject the Southern States to negro domination, +and secure the States permanently for partisan ends, the education +adopted was contrary to common-sense, to human experience, to all noble +purposes. The curriculum was for a people in the highest degree of +civilization; the aptitude and capabilities and needs of the negro were +wholly disregarded. Especial stress was laid on classics and liberal +culture to bring the race per saltum to the same plane with their former +masters, and realize the theory of social and political equality. A race +more highly civilized, with best heredities and environments, could not +have been coddled with more disregard of all the teachings of human +history and the necessities of the race. Colleges and universities, +established and conducted by the Freedmen's Bureau and Northern churches +and societies, sprang up like mushrooms, and the teachers, ignorant, +fanatical, without self-poise, proceeded to make all possible mischief. +It is irrational, cruel, to hold the negro, under such strange +conditions, responsible for all the ill consequences of bad education, +unwise teachers, reconstruction villainies, and partisan schemes. ¹ + +¹ Quoted in Proceedings of the Montgomery Conference on Race Problems +(1900), p. 128. + +Education was to be looked upon as a handmaid to a thorough +reconstruction, and its general character and aim were determined by the +Northern teachers. Each convention framed a more or less complicated +school system and undertook to provide for its support. The negroes in +the conventions were anxious for free schools; the conservatives were +willing; but the carpetbaggers and a few mulatto leaders insisted in +several States upon mixed schools. Only in Louisiana and South Carolina +did the constitutions actually forbid separate schools; in Mississippi, +Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas the question was left open, to the +embarrassment of the whites. Generally the blacks showed no desire for +mixed schools unless urged to it by the carpetbaggers. In the South +Carolina convention a mulatto thus argued in favor of mixed schools: +"The gentleman from Newberry said he was afraid we were taking a wrong +course to remove these prejudices. The most natural method to effect +this object would be to allow children when five or six years of age to +mingle in schools together and associate generally. Under such training, +prejudice must eventually die out; but if we postpone it until they +become men and women, prejudice will be so established that no mortal +can obliterate it. This, I think, is a sufficient reply to the argument +of the gentleman." + +The state systems were top-heavy with administrative machinery and were +officered by incompetent and corrupt officials. Such men as Cloud in +Alabama, Cardozo in Mississippi, Conway in Louisiana, and Jillson in +South Carolina are fair samples of them. Much of the personnel was taken +over from the Bureau teaching force. The school officials were no better +than the other officeholders. + +The first result of the attempt to use the schools as an instrument of +reconstruction ended in the ruin of several state universities. The +faculties of the Universities of North Carolina, Mississippi, and +Alabama were made radical and the institutions thereupon declined to +nothing. The negroes, unable to control the faculty of the University of +South Carolina, forced negro students in and thus got possession. In +Louisiana the radical Legislature cut off all funds because the +university would not admit negroes. The establishment of the land grant +colleges was an occasion for corruption and embezzlement. + +The common schools were used for radical ends. The funds set aside for +them by the state constitutions or appropriated by the legislatures for +these schools seldom reached their destination without being lessened by +embezzlement or by plain stealing. Frequently the auditor, or the +treasurer, or even the Legislature diverted the school funds to other +purposes. Suffice it to say that all of the reconstruction systems broke +down financially after a brief existence. + +The mixed school provisions in Louisiana and South Carolina and the +uncertainty of the educational situation in other States caused white +children to stay away from the public schools. For several years the +negroes were better provided than the whites, having for themselves both +all the public schools and also those supported by private benevolence. +In Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina the whites could get no +money for schoolhouses, while large sums were spent on negro schools. +The Peabody Board, then recently inaugurated, ¹ refused to coöperate +with school officials in the mixed school States and, when criticized, +replied: "It is well known that we are helping the white children of +Louisiana as being the more destitute from the fact of their +unwillingness to attend mixed schools." + +¹ To administer the fund bequeathed by George Peabody of Massachusetts +to promote education in the Southern States. See The New South, by +Holland Thompson (in The Chronicles of America). + +As was to be expected the whites criticized the attitude of the school +officials, disapproved of the attempts made in the schools to teach the +children radical ideas, and objected to the contents of the history +texts and the "Freedmen's Readers." A white school board in Mississippi, +by advertising for a Democratic teacher for a negro school, drew the +fire of a radical editor who inquired: "What is the motive by which this +call for a 'competent Democratic teacher' is prompted? The most damning +that has ever moved the heart of man. It is to use the vote and action +of a human being as a means by which to enslave him. The treachery and +villainy of these rebels stands without parallel in the history of men." + +A negro politician has left this account of a radical recitation in a +Florida negro school: + +After finishing the arithmetic lesson they must next go through the +catechism: + +"Who is the 'Publican Government of the State of Florida?" Answer: +"Governor Starns." + +"Who made him Governor?" Answer: "The colored people." + +"Who is trying to get him out of his seat?" Answer: "The Democrats, +Conover, and some white and black Liberal Republicans." + +"What should the colored people do with the men who is trying to get +Governor Starns out of his seat?" Answer: "They should kill them." ... + +This was done that the patrons, some of whom could not read, would be +impressed by the expressions of their children, and would be ready to +put any one to death who would come out into the country and say +anything against Governor Starns. + +The native white teachers soon dropped out of negro schools, and those +from the North met with the same social persecution as the white church +workers. The White League and Ku Klux Klan drove off obnoxious teachers, +whipped some, burned negro schoolhouses, and in various other ways +manifested the reaction which was rousing the whites against negro +schools. + +The several agencies working for negro education gave some training to +hundreds of thousands of blacks, but the whites asserted that, like the +church work, it was based on a wrong spirit and resulted in evil as well +as in good. Free schools failed in reconstruction because of the +dishonesty or incompetence of the authorities and because of the +unsettled race question. It was not until the turn of the century that +the white schools were again as good as they had been before 1861. After +the reconstruction native whites as teachers of negro schools were +impossible in most places. The hostile feelings of the whites resulted +and still result in a limitation of negro schools. The best thing for +negro schools that came out of reconstruction was Armstrong's Hampton +Institute program, which, however, was quite opposed to the spirit of +reconstruction education. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +Carpetbag and Negro Rule + +The Southern States reconstructed by Congress were subject for periods +of varying length to governments designed by radical Northerners and +imposed by elements thrown to the surface in the upheaval of Southern +society. Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina each had a brief +experience with these governments; other States escaped after four or +five years, while Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida were not +delivered from this domination until 1876. The States which contained +large numbers of negroes had, on the whole, the worst experience. Here +the officials were ignorant or corrupt, frauds upon the public were the +rule, not the exception, and all of the reconstruction governments were +so conducted that they could secure no support from the respectable +elements of the electorate. + +The fundamental cause of the failure of these governments was the +character of the new ruling class. Every State, except perhaps Virginia, +was under the control of a few able leaders from the North generally +called carpetbaggers and of a few native white radicals contemptuously +designated scalawags. These were kept in power by negro voters, to some +seven hundred thousand of whom the ballot had been given by the +reconstruction acts. The adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment in March, +1870, brought the total in the former slave States to 931,000, with +about seventy-five thousand more negroes in the North. The negro voters +were most numerous, comparatively, in Louisiana, Mississippi, South +Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. There were a few thousand carpetbaggers +in each State, with, at first, a much larger number of scalawags. The +latter, who were former Unionists, former Whigs, Confederate deserters, +and a few unscrupulous politicians, were most numerous in Virginia, +North Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The better class, +however, rapidly left the radical party as the character of the new +régime became evident, taking with them whatever claims the party had to +respectability, education, political experience, and property. + +The conservatives, hopelessly reduced by the operation of disfranchising +laws, were at first not well organized, nor were they at any time as +well led as in antebellum days. In 1868 about one hundred thousand of +them were forbidden to vote and about two hundred thousand were +disqualified from holding office. The abstention policy of 1867-68 +resulted in an almost complete withdrawal of the influence of the +conservatives for the two years, 1868-70. As a class they were regarded +by the dominant party in State and nation as dangerous and untrustworthy +and were persecuted in such irritating ways that many became indifferent +to the appeals of civil duty. They formed a solid but almost despairing +opposition in the black districts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, +and South Carolina. For the leaders the price of amnesty was conversion +to radicalism, but this price few would pay. + +The new state governments possessed certain characteristics in common. +Since only a small number of able men were available for office, full +powers of administration, including appointment and removal, were +concentrated in the hands of the governor. He exercised a wide control +over public funds and had authority to organize and command militia and +constabulary and to call for Federal troops. The numerous administrative +boards worked with the sole object of keeping their party in power. +Officers were several times as numerous as under the old régime, and all +of them received higher salaries and larger contingent fees. The moral +support behind the government was that of President Grant and the United +States army, not that of a free and devoted people. + +Of the twenty men who served as governors eight were scalawags and +twelve were carpetbaggers--men who were abler than the scalawags and who +had much more than an equal share of the spoils. The scalawags, such as +Brownlow of Tennessee, Smith of Alabama, and Holden of North Carolina, +were usually honest but narrow, vindictive men, filled with fear and +hate of the conservative whites. Of the carpetbaggers half were +personally honest, but all were unscrupulous in politics. Some were +flagrantly dishonest. Governor Moses of South Carolina was several times +bribed and at one time, according to his own statement, received $15,000 +for his vote as speaker of the House of Representatives. Governor +Stearns of Florida was charged with stealing government supplies from +the negroes; and it was notorious that Warmoth and Kellogg of Louisiana, +each of whom served only one term, retired with large fortunes. Warmoth, +indeed, went so far as to declare: "Corruption is the fashion. I do not +pretend to be honest, but only as honest as anybody in politics." + +The judiciary was no better than the executive. The chief justice of +Louisiana was convicted of fraud. A supreme court judge of South +Carolina offered his decisions for sale, and Whipper and Moses, both +notorious thieves, were elected judges by the South Carolina +Legislature. In Alabama there were many illiterate magistrates, among +them the city judge of Selma, who in April, 1865, was still living as a +slave. Governor Chamberlain, a radical, asserted that there were two +hundred trial judges in South Carolina who could not read. + +Other officers were of the same stripe. Leslie, a South Carolina +carpetbagger, declared that "South Carolina has no right to be a State +unless she can support her statesmen," and he proceeded to live up to +this principle. The manager of the state railroad of Georgia, when asked +how he had been able to accumulate twenty or thirty thousand dollars on +a two or three thousand dollar salary, replied, "By the exercise of the +most rigid economy." A North Carolina negro legislator was found on one +occasion chuckling as he counted some money. "What are you laughing at, +Uncle?" he was asked. "Well, boss, I'se been sold 'leben times in my +life and dis is de fust time I eber got de money." Godkin, in the +Nation, said that the Georgia officials were "probably as bad a lot of +political tricksters and adventurers as ever got together in one place." +This description will fit equally well the white officials of all the +reconstructed States. Many of the negroes who attained public office +showed themselves apt pupils of their carpetbag masters but were seldom +permitted to appropriate a large share of the plunder. In Florida the +negro members of the Legislature, thinking that they should have a part +of the bribe and loot money which their carpetbag masters were said to +be receiving, went so far as to appoint what was known as a "smelling +committee" to locate the good things and secure a share. + +From 1868 to 1870 the legislatures of seven States were overwhelmingly +radical and in several the radical majority held control for four, six, +or eight years. Negroes were most numerous in the legislatures of +Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi, and everywhere the votes of +these men were for sale. In Alabama and Louisiana negro legislators had +a fixed price for their votes: for example, six hundred dollars would +buy a senator in Louisiana. In South Carolina, negro government appeared +at its worst. A vivid description of the Legislature of this State in +which the negroes largely outnumbered the whites is given by James S. +Pike, a Republican journalist: ¹ + +¹ Pike, The Prostrate State, pp. 12 ff. + +In the place of this old aristocratic society stands the rude form of +the most ignorant democracy that mankind ever saw, invested with the +functions of government. It is the dregs of the population habilitated +in the robes of their intelligent predecessors, and asserting over them +the rule of ignorance and corruption.... It is barbarism overwhelming +civilization by physical force. It is the slave rioting in the halls of +his master, and putting that master under his feet. And, though it is +done without malice and without vengeance, it is nevertheless none the +less completely and absolutely done.... We will enter the House of +Representatives. Here sit one hundred and twenty-four members. Of these, +twenty-three are white men, representing the remains of the old +civilization. These are good-looking, substantial citizens. They are men +of weight and standing in the communities they represent. They are all +from the hill country. The frosts of sixty and seventy winters whiten +the heads of some among them. There they sit, grim and silent. They feel +themselves to be but loose stones, thrown in to partially obstruct a +current they are powerless to resist.... + +This dense negro crowd ... do the debating, the squabbling, the +lawmaking, and create all the clamor and disorder of the body. These +twenty-three white men are but the observers, the enforced auditors of +the dull and clumsy imitation of a deliberative body, whose appearance +in their present capacity is at once a wonder and a shame to modern +civilization.... The Speaker is black, the Clerk is black, the +doorkeepers are black, the little pages are black, the chairman of the +Ways and Means is black, and the chaplain is coal black. At some of the +desks sit colored men whose types it would be hard to find outside of +Congo; whose costumes, visages, attitudes, and expression, only befit +the forecastle of a buccaneer. It must be remembered, also, that these +men, with not more than a half dozen exceptions, have been themselves +slaves, and that their ancestors were slaves for generations.... + +But the old stagers admit that the colored brethren have a wonderful +aptness at legislative proceedings. They are "quick as lightning" at +detecting points of order, and they certainly make incessant and +extraordinary use of their knowledge. No one is allowed to talk five +minutes without interruption, and one interruption is a signal for +another and another, until the original speaker is smothered under an +avalanche of them. Forty questions of privilege will be raised in a day. +At times, nothing goes on but alternating questions of order and of +privilege. The inefficient colored friend who sits in the Speaker's +chair cannot suppress this extraordinary element of the debate. Some of +the blackest members exhibit a pertinacity of intrusion in raising these +points of order and questions of privilege that few white men can equal. +Their struggles to get the floor, their bellowings and physical +contortions, baffle description. The Speaker's hammer plays a perpetual +tattoo to no purpose. The talking and the interruptions from all +quarters go on with the utmost license. Everyone esteems himself as good +as his neighbor, and puts in his oar, apparently as often for love of +riot and confusion as for anything else.... The Speaker orders a member +whom he has discovered to be particularly unruly to take his seat. The +member obeys, and with the same motion that he sits down, throws his +feet on to his desk, hiding himself from the Speaker by the soles of his +boots.... After a few experiences of this sort, the Speaker threatens, +in a laugh, to call the "gemman" to order. This is considered a capital +joke, and a guffaw follows. The laugh goes round and then the peanuts +are cracked and munched faster than ever; one hand being employed in +fortifying the inner man with this nutriment of universal use, while the +other enforces the views of the orator. This laughing propensity of the +sable crowd is a great cause of disorder. They laugh as hens cackle--one +begins and all follow. + +But underneath all this shocking burlesque upon legislative proceedings, +we must not forget that there is something very real to this uncouth and +untutored multitude. It is not all sham, nor all burlesque. They have a +genuine interest and a genuine earnestness in the business of the +assembly which we are bound to recognize and respect.... They have an +earnest purpose, born of conviction that their position and condition +are not fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity to their +proceedings. The barbarous, animated jargon in which they so often +indulge is on occasion seen to be so transparently sincere and weighty +in their own minds that sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a +wonderful novelty to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago these +men were raising corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. Today +they are raising points of order and questions of privilege. They find +they can raise one as well as the other. They prefer the latter. It is +easier and better paid. Then, it is the evidence of an accomplished +result. It means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means +liberty. It means the destruction of prison-walls only too real to them. +It is the sunshine of their lives. It is their day of jubilee. It is +their long-promised vision of the Lord God Almighty. + +The congressional delegations were as radical as the state governments. +During the first two years there were no Democratic senators from the +reconstructed States and only two Democratic representatives, as against +sixty-four radical senators and representatives. At the end of four +years the Democrats numbered fifteen against seventy radicals. A negro +succeeded Jefferson Davis in the Senate, and in all the race sent two +senators and thirteen representatives to Congress, but though several +were of high character and fair ability, they exercised practically no +influence. The Southern delegations had no part in shaping policies but +merely voted as they were told by the radical leaders. + +The effect of dishonest government was soon seen in extravagant +expenditures, heavier taxes, increase of the bonded debt, and depression +of property values. It was to be expected that after the ruin wrought by +war and the admission of the negro to civil rights, the expenses of +government would be greater. But only lack of honesty will account for +the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction governments. In Alabama +and Florida the running expenses of the state government increased two +hundred per cent, in Louisiana five hundred per cent, and in Arkansas +fifteen hundred per cent--all this in addition to bond issues. In South +Carolina the one item of public printing, which from 1790 to 1868 cost +$609,000, amounted in the years 1868-1876 to $1,326,589. + +Corrupt state officials had two ways of getting money--by taxation and +by the sale of bonds. Taxes were everywhere multiplied. The state tax +rate in Alabama was increased four hundred per cent, in Louisiana eight +hundred per cent, and in Mississippi, which could issue no bonds, +fourteen hundred per cent. City and county taxes, where carpetbaggers +were in control, increased in the same way. Thousands of small +proprietors could not meet their taxes, and in Mississippi alone the +land sold for unpaid taxes amounted to six million acres, an area as +large as Massachusetts and Rhode Island together. Nordhoff ¹ speaks of +seeing Louisiana newspapers of which three-fourths were taken up by +notices of tax sales. In protest against extravagant and corrupt +expenditures, taxpayers' conventions were held in every State, but +without effect. + +¹ Charles Nordhoff, The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1875. + +Even the increased taxation, however, did not produce enough to support +the new governments, which now had recourse to the sale of state and +local bonds. In this way Governor Holden's Administration managed in two +years to increase the public debt of North Carolina from $16,000,000 to +$32,000,000. The state debt of South Carolina rose from $7,000,000 to +$29,000,000 in 1873. In Alabama, by 1874, the debt had mounted from +$7,000,000 to $32,000,000. The public debt of Louisiana rose from +$14,000,000 in 1868 to $48,000,000 in 1871, with a local debt of +$31,000,000. Cities, towns, and counties sold bonds by the bale. The +debt of New Orleans increased twenty-five fold and that of Vicksburg a +thousandfold. A great deal of the debt was the result of fraudulent +issues of bonds or overissues. For this form of fraud the state +financial agents in New York were usually responsible. Southern bonds +sold far below par, and the time came when they were peddled about at +ten to twenty-five cents on the dollar. + +Still another disastrous result followed this corrupt financiering. In +Alabama there was a sixty-five per cent decrease in property values, in +Florida forty-five per cent, and in Louisiana fifty to seventy-five per +cent. A large part of the best property was mortgaged, and foreclosure +sales were frequent. Poorer property could be neither mortgaged nor +sold. There was an exodus of whites from the worst governed districts in +the West and the North. Many towns, among them Mobile and Memphis, +surrendered their charters and were ruled directly by the governor; and +there were numerous "strangulated" counties which on account of debt had +lost self-government and were ruled by appointees of the governor. + +A part of the money raised by taxes and by bond sales was used for +legitimate expenses and the rest went to pay forged warrants, excess +warrants, and swollen mileage accounts, and to fill the pockets of +embezzlers and thieves from one end of the South to the other. In +Arkansas, for example, the auditor's clerk hire, which was $4000 in +1866, cost twenty-three times as much in 1873. In Louisiana and South +Carolina stealing was elevated into an art and was practiced without +concealment. In the latter State the worthless Hell Hole Swamp was +bought for $26,000 to be farmed by the negroes but was charged to the +state at $120,000. A free restaurant maintained at the Capitol for the +legislators cost $125,000 for one session. The porter who conducted it +said that he kept it open sixteen to twenty hours a day and that someone +was always in the room eating and drinking or smoking. When a member +left he would fill his pockets with cigars or with bottles of drink. +Forty different brands of beverages were paid for by the State for the +private use of members, and all sorts of food, furniture, and clothing +were sent to the houses of members and were paid for by the State as +"legislative supplies." On the bills appeared such items as imported +mushrooms, one side of bacon, one feather bed, bustles, two pairs of +extra long stockings, one pair of garters, one bottle perfume, twelve +monogram cut glasses, one horse, one comb and brush, three gallons of +whisky, one pair of corsets. During the recess, supplies were sent out +to the rural homes of the members. + +The endorsement of railroad securities by the State also furnished a +source of easy money to the dishonest official and the crooked +speculator. After the Civil War, in response to the general desire in +the South for better railroad facilities, the "Johnson" governments +began to underwrite railroad bonds. When the carpetbag and negro +governments came in, the policy was continued but without proper +safeguards. Bonds were sometimes endorsed before the roads were +constructed, and even excess issues were authorized. Bonds were endorsed +for some roads of which not a mile was ever built. The White River +Valley and Texas Railroad never came into existence, but it obtained a +grant of $175,000 from the State of Arkansas. Speaker Carter of the +Louisiana Legislature received a financial interest in all railroad +endorsement bills which he steered through the House. Negro members were +regularly bribed to vote for the bond steals. A witness swore that in +Louisiana it cost him $80,000 to get a railroad charter passed, but that +the Governor's signature cost more than the consent of the Legislature. + +When the roads defaulted on the payment of interest, as most of them +did, the burden fell upon the State. Not all of the blame for this +perverted legislation should be placed upon the corrupt legislators, +however, for the lawyers who saw the bills through were frequently +Southern Democrats representing supposedly respectable Northern +capitalists. The railroads as well as the taxpayers suffered from this +pernicious lobbying, for the companies were loaded with debts and rarely +profited by the loans. Valuation of railroad property rapidly decreased. +The roads of Alabama which were valued in 1871 at $26,000,000 had +decreased in 1875 to $9,500,000. + +The foundation of radical power in the South lay in the alienation of +the races which had been accomplished between 1865 and 1868. To maintain +this unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effective means in +the negro militia. Under the constitution of every reconstructed State a +negro constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, North +Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to +risk the dangers of arming the blacks. No governor dared permit the +Southern whites to organize as militia. In South Carolina the carpetbag +governor, Robert K. Scott, enrolled ninety-six thousand negroes as +members of the militia and organized and armed twenty thousand of them. +The few white companies were ordered to disband. In Louisiana the +governor had a standing army of blacks called the Metropolitan Guard. In +several States the negro militia was used as a constabulary and was sent +to any part of the State to make arrests. + +In spite of this provocation there were, after the riots of 1866-67, +comparatively few race conflicts until reconstruction was drawing to a +close. The intervening period was filled with the more peaceful +activities of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Camelia. ¹ But as the +whites made up their minds to get rid of negro rule, the clashes came +frequently and always ended in the death of more negroes than whites. ² +They would probably have continued with serious consequences if the +whites had not eventually secured control of the government. + +¹ See pages 243-264. + +² Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisiana at Colfax, +Coushatta, and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at Vicksburg and Clinton, +Mississippi, in 1874-75. + +The lax election laws, framed indeed for the benefit of the party in +power, gave the radicals ample opportunity to control the negro vote. +The elections were frequently corrupt, though not a great deal of money +was spent in bribery. It was found less expensive to use other methods +of getting out the vote. The negroes were generally made to understand +that the Democrats wanted to put them back into slavery, but sometimes +the leaders deemed it wiser to state more concretely that "Jeff Davis +had come to Montgomery and is ready to organize the Confederacy again" +if the Democrats should win; or to say that "if Carter is elected, he +will not allow your wives and daughters to wear hoopskirts." In Alabama +many thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to be distributed +among "flood sufferers" in a region which had not been flooded since the +days of Noah. The negroes were told that they must vote right and +receive enough bacon for a year, or "lose their rights" if they voted +wrongly. Ballot-box stuffing developed into an art, and each negro was +carefully inspected to see that he had the right kind of ticket before +he was marched to the polls. + +The inspection and counting of election returns were in the hands of the +county and state boards, which were controlled by the governor, and +which had authority to throw out or count in any number of votes. On the +assumption that the radicals were entitled to all negro votes, the +returning boards followed the census figures for the black population in +order to arrive at the minimum radical vote. The action of the returning +boards was specially flagrant in Louisiana and Florida and in the black +counties of South Carolina. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the very best arrangements had been made +at Washington and in the States for the running of the radical machine, +everywhere there were factional fights from the beginning. Usually the +scalawags declared hostilities after they found that the carpetbaggers +had control of the negroes and the inside track on the way to the best +state and federal offices. Later, after the scalawags had for the most +part left the radicals, there were contests among the carpetbaggers +themselves for the control of the negro vote and the distribution of +spoils. The defeated faction usually joined the Democrats. In Arkansas a +split started in 1869 which by 1872 resulted in two state governments. +Alabama in 1872 and Louisiana in 1874-75 each had two rival governments. +This factionalism contributed largely to the overthrow of the radicals. + +The radical structure, however, was still powerfully supported from +without. Relations between the Federal Government and the state +governments in the South were close, and the policy at Washington was +frequently determined by conditions in the South. President Grant, +though at first considerate, was usually consistently radical in his +Southern policy. This attitude is difficult to explain except by saying +that Grant fell under the control of radical advisers after his break +with Johnson, that his military instincts were offended by opposition in +the South which his advisers told him was rebellious, and that he was +impressed by the need of holding the Southern radical vote against the +inroads of the Democrats. After about 1869 Grant never really understood +the conditions in the South. He was content to control by means of +Federal troops and thousands of deputy marshals. For this policy the Ku +Klux activities gave sufficient excuse for a time, and the continued +story of "rebel outrages" was always available to justify a call for +soldiers or deputies. The enforcement legislation gave the color of law +to any interference which was deemed necessary. + +Federal troops served other ends than the mere preservation of order and +the support of the radical state governments. They were used on occasion +to decide between opposing factions and to oust conservatives who had +forced their way into office. The army officers purged the Legislature +of Georgia in 1870, that of Alabama in 1872, and that of Louisiana in +1875. In 1875 the city government of Vicksburg and the state government +of Louisiana were overturned by the whites, but General Sheridan at once +intervened to put back the negroes and carpetbaggers. He suggested to +President Grant that the conservatives be declared "banditti" and he +would make himself responsible for the rest. As soon as a State showed +signs of going over to the Democrats or an important election was lost +by the radicals, one House or the other of Congress in many instances +sent an investigation committee to ascertain the reasons. The Committees +on the Condition of the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States were +nearly always ready with reports to establish the necessity of +intervention. + +Besides the army there was in every State a powerful group of Federal +officials who formed a "ring" for the direction of all good radicals. +These marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and +customhouse officials were in close touch with Washington and frequently +dictated nominations and platforms. At New Orleans the officials acted +as a committee on credentials and held all the state conventions under +their control in the customhouse. + +Such was the machinery used to sustain a party which, with the gradual +defection of the whites, became throughout the South almost uniformly +black. At first few negroes asked for offices, but soon the +carpetbaggers found it necessary to divide with the rapidly growing +number of negro politicians. No negro was elected governor, though +several reached the office of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, +auditor, superintendent of education, justice of the state supreme +court, and fifteen were elected to Congress. ¹ It would not be correct +to say that the negro race was malicious or on evil bent. Unless +deliberately stirred up by white leaders, few negroes showed signs of +mean spirit. Few even made exorbitant demands. They wanted +"something"--schools and freedom and "something else," they knew not +what. Deprived of the leadership of the best whites, they could not +possibly act with the scalawags--their traditional enemies. Nothing was +left for them but to follow the carpetbagger. + +¹ Revels, Lynch, and Bruce represent the better negro officeholders; +Pinchback, Rainey, and Nash, the less respectable ones; and below these +were the rascals whose ambition was to equal their white preceptors in +corruption. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +The Ku Klux Movement + +The Ku Klux movement, which took the form of secret revolutionary +societies, grew out of a general conviction among the whites that the +reconstruction policies were impossible and not to be endured. Somers, +an English traveler, says that at this time "nearly every respectable +white man in the Southern States was not only disfranchised but under +fear of arrest or confiscation; the old foundations of authority were +utterly razed before any new ones had yet been laid, and in the dark and +benighted interval the remains of the Confederate armies--swept after a +long and heroic day of fair fight from the field--flitted before the +eyes of the people in this weird and midnight shape of a Ku Klux Klan." +Ryland Randolph, an Alabama editor who was also an official of the Klan, +stated in his paper that "the origin of Ku Klux Klan is in the galling +despotism that broods like a night-mare over these Southern States--a +fungus growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of Loyal +Leagues, the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our +national Constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, +all resources and all powers, to degrade the white man by the +establishment of negro supremacy." + +The secret orders, regardless of their original purposes, were all +finally to be found opposing radical reconstruction. Everywhere their +objects were the same: to recover for the white race their former +control of society and government, and to destroy the baneful influence +of the alien among the blacks. The people of the South were by law +helpless to take steps towards setting up any kind of government in a +land infested by a vicious element--Federal and Confederate deserters, +bushwhackers, outlaws of every description, and negroes, some of whom +proved insolent and violent in their newly found freedom. Nowhere was +property or person safe, and for a time many feared a negro +insurrection. General Hardee said to his neighbors, "I advise you to get +ready for what may come. We are standing over a sleeping volcano." + +To cope with this situation ante-bellum patrols--the "patter-rollers" as +the negroes called them--were often secretly reorganized. In each +community for several months after the Civil War, and in many of them +for months before the end of the war, there were informal vigilance +committees. Some of these had such names as the Black Cavalry and Men of +Justice in Alabama, the Home Guards in many other places, while the +anti-Confederate societies of the war, the Heroes of America, the Red +Strings, and the Peace Societies, transformed themselves in certain +localities into regulatory bodies. Later these secret societies numbered +scores, perhaps hundreds, varying from small bodies of local police to +great federated bodies which covered almost the entire South and even +had membership in the North and West. Other important organizations were +the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Faces, the White Brotherhood, +the Council of Safety, the '76 Association, the Sons of '76, the Order +of the White Rose, and the White Boys. As the fight against +reconstruction became bolder, the orders threw off their disguises and +appeared openly as armed whites fighting for the control of society. The +White League of Louisiana, the White Line of Mississippi, the White +Man's party of Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs of South Carolina, were +later manifestations of the general Ku Klux movement. + +The two largest secret orders, however, were the Ku Klux Klan, from +which the movement took its name, and the Knights of the White Camelia. +The Ku Klux Klan originated at Pulaski, Tennessee, in the autumn of +1865, as a local organization for social purposes. The founders were +young Confederates, united for fun and mischief. The name was an +accidental corruption of the Greek word Kuklos, a circle. The officers +adopted queer sounding titles and strange disguises. Weird night riders +in ghostly attire thoroughly frightened the superstitious negroes, who +were told that the spirits of dead Confederates were abroad. This +terrorizing of the blacks successfully provided the amusement which the +founders desired and there were many applications for admission to the +society. The Pulaski Club, or Den, was in the habit of parading in full +uniform at social gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight +of the small boys and girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, and many +of the young men of Alabama who saw these parades or heard of them +organized similar Dens in the towns of Northern Alabama. Nothing but +horseplay, however, took place at the meetings. In 1867 and 1868 the +order appeared in parade in the towns of the adjoining States and, as we +are told, "cut up curious gyrations" on the public squares. + +There was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose +behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; many joined the order +convinced that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities of +using it as a means of terrorizing the negroes. After men discovered the +power of the Klan over the negroes, indeed, they were generally +inclined, owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to act as a +sort of police patrol and to hold in check the thieving negroes, the +Union League, and the "loyalists." In this way, from being merely a +number of social clubs the Dens swiftly became bands of regulators, +taking on many new fantastic qualities along with their new seriousness +of purpose. Some of the more ardent spirits led the Dens far in the +direction of violence and outrage. Attempts were made by the parent Den +at Pulaski to regulate the conduct of the others, but, owing to the +loose organization, the effort met with little success. Some of the +Dens, indeed, lost all connection with the original order. + +A general organization of these societies was perfected at a convention +held in Nashville in May, 1867, just as the Reconstruction Acts were +being put into operation. A constitution called the Prescript was +adopted which provided for a national organization. The former slave +States, except Delaware, constituted the Empire, which was ruled by the +Grand Wizard (then General Forrest) with a staff of ten Genii; each +State was a realm under a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras; the next +subdivision was a Dominion, consisting of several counties, ruled by a +Grand Titan and six Furies; the county or Province was governed by a +Grand Giant and four Goblins; the unit was the Den or community +organization, of which there might be several in each county, each under +a Grand Cyclops and two Nighthawks. The Genii, Hydras, Furies, Goblins, +and Nighthawks were staff officers. The private members were called +Ghouls. The order had no name, and at first was designated by two stars +(**), later by three (***). Sometimes it was called the Invisible Empire +of Ku Klux Klan. + +Any white man over eighteen might be admitted to the Den after +nomination by a member and strict investigation by a committee. The oath +demanded obedience and secrecy. The Dens governed themselves by the +ordinary rules of deliberative bodies. The punishment for betrayal of +secrecy was "the extreme penalty of the Law." None of the secrets was to +be written, and there was a "Register" of alarming adjectives, such as +terrible, horrible, furious, doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, +gloomy, which was used as a cipher code in dating the odd Ku Klux +orders. + +The general objects of the order were thus set forth in the revised +Prescript: first, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless +from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, +and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the +suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of +Confederate soldiers; second, to protect and defend the Constitution of +the United States and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to +protect the States and people thereof from all invasion from any source +whatever; third, to aid and assist in the execution of all +"constitutional" laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, +and from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land. +But the tests for admission gave further indication of the objects of +the order. No Republican, no Union Leaguer, and no member of the +G. A. R. might become a member. The members were pledged to oppose negro +equality of any kind, to favor emancipation of the Southern whites and +the restoration of their rights, and to maintain constitutional +government and equitable laws. + +Prominent men testified that the order became popular because the whites +felt that they were persecuted and that there was no legal protection, +no respectable government. General (later Senator) Pettus said that +through all the workings of the Federal Government ran the principle +that "we are an inferior, degraded people and not fit to be trusted." +General Clanton of Alabama further explained that "there is not a +respectable white woman in the Negro Belt of Alabama who will trust +herself outside of her house without some protector.... So far as our +State Government is concerned, we are in the hands of camp-followers, +horse-holders, cooks, bottle-washers, and thieves.... We have passed out +from the hands of the brave soldiers who overcame us, and are turned +over to the tender mercies of squaws for torture.... I see negro +police--great black fellows--leading white girls around the streets of +Montgomery, and locking them up in jails." + +The Klan first came into general prominence in 1868 with the report of +the Federal commanders in the South concerning its activities. Soon +after that date the order spread through the white counties of the +South, in many places absorbing the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces, +and some other local organizations which had been formed in the upper +part of the Black Belt. But it was not alone in the field. The order +known as the Knights of the White Camelia, founded in Louisiana in 1867 +and formally organized in 1868, spread rapidly over the lower South +until it reached the territory occupied by the Ku Klux Klan. It was +mainly a Black Belt order, and on the whole had a more substantial and +more conservative membership than the other large secret bodies. Like +the Ku Klux Klan, it also absorbed several minor local societies. + +The White Camelia had a national organization with headquarters in New +Orleans. Its business was conducted by a Supreme Council of the United +States, with Grand, Central, and Subordinate Councils for each State, +county, and community. All communication within the order took place by +passwords and cipher; the organization and the officers were similar to +those of the Ku Klux Klan; and all officers were designated by initials. +An ex-member states that "during the three years of its existence here +[Perry County, Alabama] I believe its organization and discipline were +as perfect as human ingenuity could have made it." The fundamental +object of the White Camelia was the "maintenance of the supremacy of the +white race," and to this end the members were constrained "to observe a +marked distinction between the races" and to restrain the "African race +to that condition of social and political inferiority for which God has +destined it." The members were pledged to vote only for whites, to +oppose negro equality in all things, but to respect the legitimate +rights of negroes. + +The smaller orders were similar in purpose and organization to the Ku +Klux Klan and the White Camelia. Most of them joined or were affiliated +with the large societies. Probably a majority of the men of the South +were associated at some time during this period with these revolutionary +bodies. As a rule the politicians, though approving, held aloof. Public +opinion generally supported the movement so long as the radicals made +serious attempts to carry out the reconstruction policies. + +The task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the +blacks and their leaders in order that honor, life, and property might +be secure. They planned to accomplish this aim by playing upon the +fears, superstitions, and cowardice of the black race--in a word, by +creating a white terror to counteract the black one. To this end they +made use of strange disguises, mysterious and fearful conversation, +midnight rides and drills, and silent parades. As long as secrecy and +mystery were to be effective in dealing with the negroes, costume was an +important matter. These disguises varied with the locality and often +with the individual. High cardboard hats, covered with white cloth often +decorated with stars or pictures of animals, white masks with holes cut +for eyes, nose and mouth bound with red braid to give a horrible +appearance, and frequently a long tongue of red flannel so fixed that it +could be moved with the wearer's tongue, and a long white robe--these +made up a costume which served at the same time as a disguise and as a +means of impressing the impressionable negro. Horses were covered with +sheets or white cloth held on by the saddle and by belts, and sometimes +the animals were even painted. Skulls of sheep and cattle, and even of +human beings were often carried on the saddlebows to add another element +of terror. A framework was sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a +Ghoul which caused him to appear twelve feet high. A skeleton wooden +hand at the end of a stick served to greet terrified negroes at +midnight. For safety every man carried a small whistle and a brace of +pistols. + +The trembling negro who ran into a gathering of the Ku Klux on his +return from a Loyal League meeting was informed that the white-robed +figures he saw were the spirits of the Confederate dead killed at +Chickamauga or Shiloh, now unable to rest in their graves because of the +conduct of the negroes. He was told in a sepulchral voice of the +necessity for his remaining more at home and taking a less active part +in predatory excursions abroad. In the middle of the night a sleeping +negro might wake to find his house surrounded by a ghostly company, or +to see several terrifying figures standing by his bedside. They were, +they said, the ghosts of men whom he had formerly known. They had +scratched through from Hell to warn the negroes of the consequences of +their misconduct. Hell was a dry and thirsty land: and they asked him +for water. Bucket after bucket of water disappeared into a sack of +leather, rawhide, or rubber, concealed within the flowing robe. The +story is told of one of these night travelers who called at the cabin of +a radical negro in Attakapas County, Louisiana. After drinking three +buckets of water to the great astonishment of the darky, the traveler +thanked him and told him that he had traveled nearly a thousand miles +within twenty-four hours, and that that was the best water he had tasted +since he was killed at the battle of Shiloh. The negro dropped the +bucket, overturned chairs and table in making his escape through the +window, and was never again seen or heard of by residents of that +community. Another incident is told of a parade in Pulaski, Tennessee: +"While the procession was passing a corner on which a negro man was +standing, a tall horseman in hideous garb turned aside from the line, +dismounted and stretched out his bridle rein toward the negro, as if he +desired him to hold his horse. Not daring to refuse, the frightened +African extended his hand to grasp the rein. As he did so, the Ku Klux +took his own head from his shoulders and offered to place that also in +the outstretched hand. The negro stood not upon the order of his going, +but departed with a yell of terror. To this day he will tell you: 'He +done it, suah, boss. I seed him do it.'" + +It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence, for the +black population was in an ecstasy of fear. A silent host of +white-sheeted horsemen parading the country roads at night was +sufficient to reduce the blacks to good behavior for weeks or months. +One silent Ghoul posted near a meeting place of the League would be the +cause of the immediate dissolution of that club. Cow bones in a sack +were rattled within earshot of the terrified negroes. A horrible being, +fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward a place of +congregation, was very likely to find that every one had vacated the +place before he arrived. A few figures wrapped in sheets and sitting on +tombstones in a graveyard near which negroes were accustomed to pass +would serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks and give the +locality a reputation for "hants" which lasted long. + +To prevent detection on parade, members of the Klan often stayed out of +the parade in their own town and were to be seen freely and +conspicuously mingling with the spectators. A man who believed that he +knew every horse in the vicinity and was sure that he would be able to +identify the riders by their horses was greatly surprised upon lifting +the disguise of the horse nearest him to find the animal upon which he +himself had ridden into town a short while before. The parades were +always silent and so arranged as to give the impression of very large +numbers. In the regular drills which were held in town and country the +men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the Confederate +army. There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a mysterious +language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used. + +Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until the +carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the +Reconstruction Acts. Then more violent methods were necessary. The Klans +patrolled disturbed communities, visited, warned, and frightened +obnoxious individuals, whipped some, and even hanged others. Until +forbidden by law or military order, the newspapers were accustomed to +print the mysterious proclamations of the Ku Klux. The following, which +was circulated in Montgomery, Alabama, in April 1868, is a typical +specimen: + + K. K. K. + Clan of Vega. + hdqr's k.k.k. hospitallers. + Vega Clan, New Moon, + 3rd Month, Anno K. K. K. 1. +Order No. K. K. + +Clansmen--Meet at the Trysting Spot when Orion Kisses the Zenith. The +doom of treason is Death. Dies Iræ. The wolf is on his walk--the serpent +coils to strike. Action! Action!! Action!!! By midnight and the Tomb; by +Sword and Torch and the Sacred Oath at Forrester's Altar, I bid you +come! The clansmen of Glen Iran and Alpine will greet you at the +new-made grave. + +Remember the Ides of April. + + By command of the Grand D. I. H. + Cheg. V. + +The work of the secret orders was successful. As bodies of vigilantes, +the Klans and the Councils regulated the conduct of bad negroes, +punished criminals who were not punished by the State, looked after the +activities and teachings of Northern preachers and teachers, dispersed +hostile gatherings of negroes, and ran out of the community the worst of +the reconstructionist officials. They kept the negroes quiet and freed +them to some extent from the influence of evil leaders. The burning of +houses, gins, mills, and stores ceased; property became more secure; +people slept safely at night; women and children walked abroad in +security; the incendiary agents who had worked among the negroes left +the country; agitators, political, educational, and religious, became +more moderate; "bad niggers" ceased to be bad; labor became less +disorganized; the carpetbaggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the +Southern communities. It was not so much a revolution as the defeat of a +revolution. Society was replaced in the old historic grooves from which +war and reconstruction had jarred it. + +Successful as was the Ku Klux movement in these respects, it had at the +same time many harmful results. Too often local orders fell under the +control of reckless or lawless men and the Klan was then used as a cloak +to cover violence and thievery; family and personal feuds were carried +into the orders and fought out; and anti-negro feeling in many places +found expression in activities designed to drive the blacks from the +country. It was easy for any outlaw to hide himself behind the +protection of a secret order. So numerous did these men become that +after 1868 there was a general exodus of the leading reputable members, +and in 1869 the formal disbanding of the Klan was proclaimed by General +Forrest, the Grand Wizard. The White Camelia and other orders also +gradually went out of existence. Numerous attempts were made to suppress +the secret movement by the military commanders, the state governments, +and finally by Congress, but none of these was entirely successful, for +in each community the secret opposition lasted as long as it was needed. + +The political effects of the orders, however, survived their organized +existence. Some of the Southern States began to go Democratic in spite +of the Reconstruction Acts and the Amendments, and there was little +doubt that the Ku Klux movement had aided in this change. In order to +preserve the achievements of radical reconstruction Congress passed, in +1870 and 1871, the enforcement acts which had been under debate for +nearly two years. The first act (May 31, 1870) was designed to protect +the negro's right to vote and was directed at individuals as well as +against States. Section six, indeed, was aimed specifically at the Ku +Klux Klan. This act was a long step in the direction of giving the +Federal Government control over state elections. But as North Carolina +went wholly and Alabama partially Democratic in 1870, a Supplementary +Act (February 28, 1871) went further and placed the elections for +members of Congress completely under Federal control, and also +authorized the use of thousands of deputy marshals at elections. As the +campaign of 1872 drew near, Grant and his advisers became solicitous to +hold all the Southern States which had not been regained by the +Democrats. Accordingly, on March 23, 1871, the President sent a message +to Congress declaring that in some of the States the laws could not be +enforced and asked for remedial legislation. Congress responded with an +act (April 20, 1871), commonly called the "Ku Klux Act," which gave the +President despotic military power to uphold the remaining negro +governments and authorized him to declare a state of war when he +considered it necessary. Of this power Grant made use in only one +instance. In October, 1871, he declared nine counties of South Carolina +in rebellion and put them under martial law. + +During the ten years following 1870, several thousand arrests were made +under the enforcement acts and about 1250 convictions were secured, +principally in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Tennessee. Most of these violations of election laws, however, had +nothing to do with the Ku Klux movement, for by 1870 the better class of +members had withdrawn from the secret orders. But though the enforcement +acts checked these irregularities to a considerable extent, they +nevertheless failed to hold the South for the radicals and essential +parts of them were declared unconstitutional a few years later. + +In order to justify the passage of the enforcement acts and to obtain +campaign material for use in 1872, Congress appointed a committee, +organized on the very day when the Ku Klux Act was approved, to +investigate conditions in the Southern States. From June to August, +1871, the committee took testimony in Washington, and in the fall +subcommittees visited several Southern States. Tennessee, Virginia, +Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were, however, omitted from the +investigation. Notwithstanding the partisan purpose and methods of the +investigation, the report of the committee and the accompanying +testimony constituted a Democratic rather than a Republican document. It +is a veritable mine of information about the South between 1865 and +1871. The Democratic minority members made skillful use of their +opportunity to expose conditions in the South. They were less concerned +to meet the charges made against the Ku Klux Klan than to show why such +movements came about. The Republicans, concerned mainly about material +for the presidential campaign, neglected the broader phases of the +situation. + +Opposition to the effects of reconstruction did not come to an end with +the dissolution of the more famous orders. On the contrary, it now +became public and open and resulted in the organization, after 1872, of +the White League, the Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, the White Man's Party +in Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs in South Carolina. The later movements +were distinctly but cautiously anti-negro. There was most irritation in +the white counties where there were large numbers of negroes. Negro +schools and churches were burned because they served as meeting places +for negro political organizations. The color line began to be more and +more sharply drawn. Social and business ostracism continued to be +employed against white radicals, while the negroes were discharged from +employment or were driven from their rented farms. + +The Ku Klux movement, it is to be noted in retrospect, originated as an +effort to restore order in the war-stricken Southern States. The secrecy +of its methods appealed to the imagination and caused its rapid +expansion, and this secrecy was inevitable because opposition to +reconstruction was not lawful. As the reconstruction policies were put +into operation, the movement became political and used violence when +appeals to superstitious fears ceased to be effective. The Ku Klux Klan +centered, directed, and crystallized public opinion, and united the +whites upon a platform of white supremacy. The Southern politicians +stood also from the movement but accepted the results of its work. It +frightened the negroes and bad whites into better conduct, and it +encouraged the conservatives and aided them to regain control of +society, for without the operations of the Klan the black districts +would never have come again under white control. Towards the end, +however, its methods frequently became unnecessarily violent and did +great harm to Southern society. The Ku Klux system of regulating society +is as old as history; it had often been used before; it may even be used +again. When a people find themselves persecuted by aliens under legal +forms, they will invent some means outside the law for protecting +themselves; and such experiences will inevitably result in a weakening +of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of justice. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Changing South + +"The bottom rail is on top" was a phrase which had flashed throughout +the late Confederate States. It had been coined by the negroes in 1867 +to express their view of the situation, but its aptness had been +recognized by all. After ten years of social and economic revolution, +however, it was not so clear that the phrase of 1867 correctly described +the new situation. "The white man made free" would have been a more +accurate epitome, for the white man had been able, in spite of his +temporary disabilities, to compete with the negro in all industries. + +It will be remembered that the negro districts were least exposed to the +destruction of war. The well-managed plantation, lying near the highways +of commerce, with its division of labor, nearly or quite self-sufficing, +was the bulwark of the Confederacy. When the fighting ended, an +industrial revolution began in these untouched parts of the Black Belt. +The problem of free negro labor now appeared. During the year 1865 no +general plan for a labor system was formulated except by the Freedmen's +Bureau. That, however, was not a success. There were all sorts of +makeshifts, such as cash wages, deferred wages, coöperation, even +sharing of expense and product, and contracts, either oral or written. + +The employers showed a disposition to treat the negro family as a unit +in making contracts for labor, wages, food, clothes, and care. ¹ In +general these early arrangements were made to transform slavery with its +mutual duties and obligations into a free labor system with wages and +"privileges." The "privileges" of slavery could not be destroyed; in +fact, they have never yet been destroyed in numerous places. Curious +demands were made by the negroes: here, farm bells must not ring; there, +overseers or managers must be done away with; in some places plantation +courts were to settle matters of work, rent, and conduct; elsewhere, +agreements were made that on Saturday the laborer should be permitted to +go to town and, perhaps, ride a mule or horse. In South Carolina the Sea +Island negroes demanded that in laying out work the old "tasks" or +"stints" of slavery days be retained as the standard. The farming +districts at the edge of the Black Belt, where the races were about +equal in numbers, already had a kind of "share system," and in these +sections the economic chaos after the war was not so complete. The +former owners worked in the field with their ex-slaves and thus provided +steady employment for many. Farms were rented for a fixed sum of money, +or for a part of the crop, or on "shares." + +¹ J. D. B. De Bow, the economist, testified before the Joint Committee +on Reconstruction that, if the negro would work, free labor would be +better for the planters than slave labor. He called attention to the +fact, however, that negro women showed a desire to avoid field labor, +and there is also evidence to show that they objected to domestic +service and other menial work. + +The white districts, which had previously fought a losing competition +with the efficiently managed and inexpensive slave labor of the Black +Belt, were affected most disastrously by war and its aftermath. They +were distant from transportation lines and markets; they employed poor +farming methods; they had no fertilizers; they raised no staple crops on +their infertile land; and in addition they now had to face the +destitution that follows fighting. Yet these regions had formerly been +almost self-supporting, although the farms were small and no elaborate +labor system had been developed. + +In the planting districts where the owner was land-poor he made an +attempt to bring in Northern capital and Northern or foreign labor. In +the belief that the negroes would work better for a Northern man, every +planter who could do so secured a Northern partner or manager, +frequently a soldier. Nevertheless these imported managers nearly always +failed because they did not understand cotton, rice, or sugar planting, +and because they were either too severe or too easy upon the blacks. + +No Northern labor was to be had, and the South could not retain even all +its own native whites. Union soldiers and others seeking to better their +prospects moved west and northwest to fill the newly opened lands, while +the Confederates, kept out of the homestead region by the test oath, +swarmed into Texas, which owned its own public lands, or went North to +other occupations. Nor could the desperate planters hire foreign +immigrants. Several States, among them South Carolina, Alabama, and +Louisiana, advertised for laborers and established labor bureaus, but +without avail. The negro politicians in 1867 declared themselves opposed +to all movements to foster immigration. So in the Black Belt the negro +had, for forty years, a monopoly of farm labor. + +The share system of tenantry, with its attendant evils of credit and +crop lien, was soon established in the Southern States, mainly in the +Black Belt, but to some extent also in the white districts. The landlord +furnished land, house, fuel, water, and all or a part of the seed, +fertilizer, farm implements, and farm animals. In return he received a +"half," or a "third and fourth," his share depending upon how much he +had furnished. The best class of tenants would rent for cash or a fixed +rental, the poorest laborers would work for wages only. + +The "privileges" brought over from slavery, which were included in the +share renting, astonished outside observers. To the laborer was usually +given a house, a water supply, wood for fuel, pasture for pigs or cows, +a "patch" for vegetables and fruit, and the right to hunt and fish. +These were all that some needed in order to live. Somers, the English +traveler already quoted, pronounced this generous custom "outrageously +absurd," for the negroes had so many privileges that they refused to +make use of their opportunities. "The soul is often crushed out of labor +by penury and oppression," he said, "but here a soul cannot begin to be +infused into it through the sheer excess of privilege and license with +which it is surrounded." + +The credit system which was developed beside the share system made a bad +condition worse. On the 1st of January, a planter could mortgage his +future crop to a merchant or landlord in exchange for subsistence until +the harvest. Since, as a rule, neither tenant nor landlord had any +surplus funds, the latter would be supplied by the banker or banker +merchant, who would then dictate the crops to be planted and the time of +sale. As a result of these conditions, the planter or farmer was held to +staple crops, high prices for necessities, high interest rate, and +frequently unfair bookkeeping. The system was excellent for a thrifty, +industrious, and intelligent man, for it enabled him to get a start. It +worked to the advantage of a bankrupt landlord, who could in this way +get banking facilities. But it had a mischievous effect upon the average +tenant, who had too small a share of the crop to feel a strong sense of +responsibility as well as too many "privileges" and too little +supervision to make him anxious to produce the best results. + +The negroes entered into their freedom with several advantages: they +were trained to labor; they were occupying the most fertile soil and +could purchase land at low prices; the tenant system was most liberal; +cotton, sugar, and rice were bringing high prices; and access to markets +was easy. In the white districts land was cheap, and prices of +commodities were high, but otherwise the negroes seemed to have the +better position. Yet as early as 1870, keen observers called attention +to the fact that the hill and mountain whites were thriving as compared +with their former condition, and that the negroes were no longer their +serious competitors. In the white districts better methods were coming +into use, labor was steady, fertilizers were used, and conditions of +transportation were improving. The whites were also encroaching on the +Black Belt; they were opening new lands in the Southwest; and within the +border of the Black Belt they were bringing negro labor under some +control. In the South Carolina rice lands, crowds of Irish were imported +to do the ditching which the negroes refused to do and were carried back +North when the job was finished. ¹ President Thach of the Alabama +Agricultural College has thus described the situation: + +By the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered +barren have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford +a more reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the +old slave plantations. In nearly every agricultural county in the South +there is to be observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, +once the heart of the old civilization, now abandoned by the whites, +held in tenantry by a dense negro population, full of dilapidation and +ruin; while on the other hand, there is the region of light, thin soils, +occupied by the small white freeholder, filled with schools, churches, +and good roads, and all the elements of a happy, enlightened country +life. + +¹ The Census of 1880 gave proof of the superiority of the whites in +cotton production. For purposes of comparison the cotton area may be +divided into three regions: first, the Black Belt, in which the farmers +were black, the soil fertile, the plantations large, the credit evil at +its worst, and the yield of cotton per acre the least; second, the white +districts, where the soil was the poorest, the farms small, the workers +nearly all white, and the yield per acre better than on the fertile +Black Belt lands; third, the regions in which the races were nearly +equal in numbers or where the whites were in a slight majority, with +soil of medium fertility, good methods of agriculture, and, owing to +better controlled labor, the best yield. In other words, negroes, +fertile soil, and poor crops went together; and on the other hand the +whites got better crops on less fertile soil. The Black Belt has never +again reached the level of production it had in 1860. But the white +district kept improving slowly. + +All the systems devised for handling negro labor proved to be only +partially successful. The laborer was migratory, wanted easy work, with +one or two holidays a week, and the privilege of attending political +meetings, camp meetings, and circuses. A thrifty negro could not make +headway because his fellows stole from him or his less energetic +relations and friends visited him and ate up his substance. One Alabama +planter declared that he could not raise a turkey, a chicken, a hog, or +a cow; and another asserted that "a hog has no more chance to live among +these thieving negro farmers than a June bug in a gang of puddle ducks." +Lands were mortgaged to the supply houses in the towns, the whites +gradually deserted the country, and many rice and cotton fields grew up +in weeds. Crop stealing at night became a business which no legislation +could ever completely stop. + +A traveler has left the following description of "a model negro farm" in +1874. The farmer purchased an old mule on credit and rented land on +shares or for so many bales of cotton; any old tools were used; corn, +bacon, and other supplies were bought on credit, and a crop lien was +given; a month later, corn and cotton were planted on soil that was not +well broken up; the negro "would not pay for no guano" to put on other +people's land; by turns the farmer planted and fished, plowed and +hunted, hoed and frolicked, or went to "meeting." At the end of the year +he sold his cotton, paid part of his rent and some of his debt, returned +the mule to its owner, and sang: + + Nigger work hard all de year, + White man tote de money. + +The great landholdings did not break up into small farms as was +predicted, though sales were frequent and in 1865 enormous amounts of +land were put on the market. After 1867, additional millions of acres +were offered at small prices, and tax and mortgage sales were numerous. +The result of these operations, however, was a change of landlords +rather than a breaking up of large plantations. New men, negroes, +merchants, and Jews became landowners. The number of small farms +naturally increased but so in some instances did the land concentrated +into large holdings. + +It was inevitable that conditions of negro life should undergo a +revolutionary change during the reconstruction. The serious matter of +looking out for himself and his family and of making a living dampened +the negro's cheerful spirits. Released from the discipline of slavery +and often misdirected by the worst of teachers, the negro race naturally +ran into excesses of petty criminality. Even under the reconstruction +governments the proportion of negro to white criminals was about ten to +one. Theft was frequent; arson was the accepted means of revenge on +white people; and murder became common in the brawls of the city negro +quarters. The laxness of the marriage relation worked special hardship +on the women and children in so many cases deserted by the head of the +family. + +Out of the social anarchy of reconstruction the negroes emerged with +numerous organizations of their own which may have been imitations of +the Union League, the Lincoln Brotherhood, and the various church +organizations. These societies were composed entirely of blacks and have +continued with prolific reproduction to the present day. They were +characterized by high names, gorgeous regalia, and frequent parades. +"The Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity" and the "United +Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen" played a large, and on the whole +useful, part in negro social life, teaching lessons of thrift, +insurance, coöperation, and mutual aid. + +The reconstructionists were not able in 1867-68 to carry through +Congress any provision for the social equality of the races, but in the +reconstructed States the equal rights issue was alive throughout the +period. Legislation giving to the negro equal rights in hotels, places +of amusements, and common carriers, was first enacted in Louisiana and +South Carolina. Frequently the carpetbaggers brought up the issue in +order to rid the radical ranks of the scalawags who were opposed to +equal rights. In Florida, for example, the carpetbaggers framed a +comprehensive Equal Rights Law, passed it, and presented it to Governor +Reed, who was known to be opposed to such legislation. He vetoed the +measure and thus lost the negro support. Intermarriage with whites was +made legal in Louisiana and South Carolina and by court decision was +permitted in Alabama and Mississippi, but the Georgia Supreme Court held +it to be illegal. Mixed marriages were few, but these were made +occasions of exultation over the whites and of consequent ill feeling. + +Charles Sumner was a persistent agitator for equal rights. In 1871 he +declared in a letter to a South Carolina negro convention that the race +must insist not only upon equality in hotels and on public carriers but +also in the schools. "It is not enough," he said, "to provide separate +accommodations for colored citizens even if in all respects as good as +those of other persons.... The discrimination is an insult and a +hindrance, and a bar, which not only destroys comfort and prevents +equality, but weakens all other rights. The right to vote will have new +security when your equal right in public conveyances, hotels, and common +schools, is at last established; but here you must insist for yourselves +by speech, petition, and by vote." The Southern whites began to develop +the "Jim Crow" theory of "separate but equal" accommodations. Senator +Hill of Georgia, for example, thought that hotels might have separate +divisions for the two races, and he cited the division in the churches +as proof that the negro wanted separation. + +About 1874, it was plain that the last radical Congress was nearly ready +to enact social equality legislation. This fact turned many of the +Southern Unionist class back to the Democratic party, there to remain +for a long time. In 1875, as a sort of memorial to Sumner, Congress +passed the Civil Rights Act, which gave to negroes equal rights in +hotels, places of amusement, on public carriers, and on juries. Some +Democratic leaders were willing to see such legislation enacted, because +in the first place, it would have little effect except in the Border and +Northern States, where it would turn thousands into the Democratic fold, +and in the second place, because they were sure that in time the Supreme +Court would declare the law unconstitutional. And so it happened. + +In regions where the more unprincipled radical leaders were in control, +the whites lived at times in fear of negro uprisings. The negroes were +armed and insolent, and the whites were few and widely scattered. Here +and there outbreaks occurred and individual whites and isolated families +suffered, but as a rule all such movements were crushed with much +heavier loss to the negroes than to the better organized whites. +Nevertheless everlasting apprehension for the safety of women and +children kept the white men nervous. General Garnett Andrews remarked +about the situation in Mississippi: + +I have never suffered such an amount of anguish and alarm in all my +life. I have served through the whole war as a soldier in the army of +Northern Virginia, and saw all of it; but I never did experience ... the +fear and alarm and sense of danger which I felt that time. And this was +the universal feeling among the population, among the white people. I +think that both sides were alarmed and felt uneasy. It showed itself +upon the countenance of the people; it made many of them sick. Men +looked haggard and pale, after undergoing this sort of thing for six +weeks or a month, and I have felt when I laid [sic] down that neither +myself, nor my wife and children were in safety. I expected, and +honestly anticipated, and thought it highly probable, that I might be +assassinated and my house set on fire at any time. + +By the fires of reconstruction the whites were fused into a more +homogeneous society, social as well as political. The former +slaveholding class continued to be more considerate of the negro than +were the poor whites; but, as misrule went on, all classes tended to +unite against the negro in politics. They were tired of reconstruction, +new amendments, force bills, Federal troops--tired of being ruled as +conquered provinces by the incompetent and the dishonest. Every measure +aimed at the South seemed to them to mean that they were considered +incorrigible and unworthy of trust, and that they were being made to +suffer for the deeds of irresponsible whites. And, to make matters +worse, strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh +rebellion. "When the Jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their +charge of want of loyalty in the South because our people grumble back a +little seems to me as unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: +'Mamma, make Bob 'have hisself. He makes mouths at me every time I hit +him with my stick.'" ¹ + +¹ Usually ascribed to General D. H. Hill of North Carolina, and quoted +in The Land We Love, vol. 1, p. 146. + +Probably this burden fell heavier on the young men, who had life before +them and who were growing up with diminished opportunities. Sidney +Lanier, then an Alabama school-teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor: "Perhaps +you know that with us of the young generation in the South, since the +war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying." Negro and +alien rule was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. The +taxpayers were nonparticipants in the affairs of government. Some people +withdrew entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, +kept away from towns and from speechmaking, waiting for the end to come. +There were some who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so +unpleasant was the news. The good feeling produced by the magnanimity of +Grant at Appomattox was destroyed by the severity of his Southern policy +when he became President. There was no gratitude for any so-called +leniency of the North, no repentance for the war, no desire for +humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes, and no confession of wrong. The +insistence of the radicals upon obtaining a confession of depravity only +made things much worse. Scarcely a measure of Congress during +reconstruction was designed or received in a conciliatory spirit. + +The new generation of whites was poor, bitter because of persecution, +ill educated, overworked, without a bright future, and shadowed by the +race problem. Though their new political leaders were shrewd, narrow, +conservative, honest, and parsimonious, the constant fighting of fire +with fire scorched all. In the bitter discipline of reconstruction, the +pleasantest side of Southern life came to an end. During the war and the +consequent reconstruction there was a marked change in Southern +temperament toward the severe. Hospitality declined; the old Southern +life had never been on a business basis, but the new Southern life now +adjusted itself to a stricter economy; the old individuality was +partially lost; but class distinctions were less obvious in a more +homogeneous society. The material evils of reconstruction may be only +temporary; state debts may be paid and wasted resources renewed; but the +moral and intellectual results of the revolution will be the more +permanent. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Restoration of Home Rule + +The radical program of reconstruction ended after ten years in failure +rather because of a change in public opinion in the North than because +of the resistance of the Southern whites. The North of 1877, indeed, was +not the North of 1867. A more tolerant attitude toward the South +developed as the North passed through its own period of misgovernment +when all the large cities were subject to "ring rule" and corruption, as +in New York under "Boss" Tweed and in the District of Columbia under +"Boss" Shepherd. The Federal civil service was discredited by the +scandals connected with the Sanborn contracts, the Whisky Ring, and the +Star Routes, while some leaders in Congress were under a cloud from the +"Salary Grab" and Credit Mobilier disclosures. ¹ + +¹ See The Boss and the Machine, by Samuel P. Orth (in The Chronicles of +America). + +The marvelous material development of the North and West also drew +attention away from sectional controversies. Settlers poured into the +plains beyond the Mississippi and the valleys of the Far West; new +industries sprang up; unsuspected mineral wealth was discovered; +railroads were built. Not only bankers but taxpaying voters took an +interest in the financial readjustments of the time. Many thousand +people followed the discussions over the funding and refunding of the +national debt, the retirement of the greenbacks, and the proposed +lowering of tariff duties. Yet the Black Friday episode of 1869, when +Jay Gould and James Fisk cornered the visible supply of gold, and the +panic of 1873 were indications of unsound financial conditions. + +These new developments and the new domestic problems which they involved +all tended to divert public thought from the old political issues +arising out of the war. Foreign relations, too, began to take on a new +interest. The Alabama claims controversy with England continued to hold +the public attention until finally settled by the Geneva Arbitration in +1872. President Grant, as much of an expansionist as Seward, for two +years (1869-71) tried to secure Santo Domingo or a part of it for an +American naval base in the West Indies. But the United States had race +problems enough already and the Senate, led by Sumner, refused to +sanction the acquisition. Relations with Spain were frequently strained +on account of American filibustering expeditions to aid Cuban +insurgents. Spain repeatedly charged the United States with laxness +toward such violations of international law; and President Grant, seeing +no other way out, recommended in 1869 and again in 1870 that the Cuban +insurgents be recognized as belligerents, but still the Senate held +back. The climax came in 1873, when the Spanish authorities in Cuba +captured on the high seas the Virginius ¹ with a filibustering +expedition on board and executed fifty-three of the crew and passengers, +among them eight Americans. For a time war seemed imminent, but Spain +acted quickly and effected a peaceable settlement. + +¹ See The Path of Empire, by Carl Russell Fish (in The Chronicles of +America), p. 119. + +It became evident soon after 1867 that the issues involved in +reconstruction were not in themselves sufficient to hold the North +solidly Republican. Toward negro suffrage, for example, Northern public +opinion was on the whole unfriendly. In 1867 the negro was permitted to +vote only in New York and in New England, except in Connecticut. Before +1869 negro suffrage was rejected in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kansas, +Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Republicans in +their national platform of 1868 went only so far as to say that, while +negro suffrage was to be forced upon the South, it must remain a local +question in the North. The Border States rapidly lined up with the white +South on matters of race, church, and politics. + +It was not until 1874, however, that the changing opinion was made +generally effective in the elections. The skillfully managed radical +organization held large majorities in every Congress from the +Thirty-ninth to the Forty-third, and the electoral votes in 1868 and +1872 seemed to show that the conservative opposition was insignificant. +But these figures do not tell the whole story. Even in 1864, when +Lincoln won by nearly half a million, the popular vote was as eighteen +to twenty-two, and four years later Grant, the most popular man in the +United States, had a majority of only three hundred thousand over +Seymour, and this majority and more came from the new negro voters. Four +years later with about a million negro voters available and an +opposition not pleased with its own candidate, Grant's majority reached +only seven hundred thousand. At no one time in elections did the North +pronounce itself in favor of all the reconstruction policies. The break, +signs of which were visible as early as 1869, came in 1874 when the +Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives. + +Strength was given to the opposition because of the dissatisfaction with +President Grant, who knew little about politics and politicians. He felt +that his Cabinet should be made up of personal friends, not of strong +advisers, and that the military ideal of administration was the proper +one. He was faithful but undiscriminating in his friendships and +frequently chose as his associates men of vulgar tastes and low motives; +and he showed a naïve love of money and an undisguised admiration for +rich men such as Gould and Fisk. His appointees were often incompetent +friends or relatives, and his cynical attitude toward civil service +reform lost him the support of influential men. When forced by party +exigencies to select first-class men for his Cabinet, he still preferred +to go for advice to practical politicians. On the Southern question he +easily fell under control of the radicals, who in order to retain their +influence had only to convince his military mind that the South was +again in rebellion, and who found it easy to distract public opinion +from political corruption by "waving the bloody shirt." Dissatisfaction +with his Administration, it is true, was confined to the intellectuals, +the reformers, and the Democrats, but they were strong enough to defeat +him for a second term if they could only be organized. + +The Liberal Republican movement began in the West about 1869 with +demands for amnesty and for reform, particularly in the civil service, +and it soon spread rapidly over the North. When it became certain that +the "machine" would renominate Grant, the liberal movement became an +anti-Grant party. The "New Departure" Democrats gave comfort and +prospect of aid to the Liberal Republicans by declaring for a +constructive, forward-looking policy in place of reactionary opposition. +The Liberal chiefs were led to believe that the new Democratic leaders +would accept their platform and candidates in order to defeat Grant. The +principal candidates for the Liberal Republican nomination were Charles +Francis Adams, Lyman Trumbull, Gratz Brown, David Davis, and Horace +Greeley. Adams was the strongest candidate but was jockeyed out of place +and the nomination was given to Horace Greeley, able enough as editor of +the New York Tribune but impossible as a candidate for the presidency. +The Democratic party accepted him as their candidate also, although he +had been a lifelong opponent of Democratic principles and policies. But +disgusted Liberals either returned to the Republican ranks or stayed +away from the polls, and many Democrats did likewise. Under these +circumstances the reëlection of Grant was a foregone conclusion. There +was certainly a potential majority against Grant, but the opposition had +failed to organize, while the Republican machine was in good working +order, the negroes were voting, and the Enforcement Acts proved a great +aid to the Republicans in the Southern States. + +One good result of the growing liberal sentiment was the passage of an +Amnesty Act by Congress on May 22, 1872. By statute and by the +Fourteenth Amendment, Congress had refused to recognize the complete +validity of President Johnson's pardons and amnesty proclamations, and +all Confederate leaders who wished to regain political rights had +therefore to appeal to Congress. During the Forty-first Congress +(1869-71) more than three thousand Southerners were amnestied in order +that they might hold office. These, however, were for the most part +scalawags; the most respectable whites would not seek an amnesty which +they could secure only by self-stultification. ¹ It was the pressure of +public opinion against white disfranchisement and the necessity for +meeting the Liberal Republican arguments which caused the passage of the +Act of 1872. By this act about 150,000 whites were reënfranchised, +leaving out only about five hundred of the most prominent of the old +régime, most of whom were never restored to citizenship. Both Robert E. +Lee and Jefferson Davis died disfranchised. + +¹ The machinery of government and politics was all in radical hands--the +carpetbaggers and scalawags, who were numerous enough to fill +practically all the offices. These men were often able leaders and +skillful managers, and they did not intend to surrender control; and the +black race was obedient and furnished the votes. In 1868, with Virginia, +Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas unrepresented, the first radical +contingent in Congress from the South numbered 42, of whom 10 out of 12 +senators and 26 out of 32 representatives were carpetbaggers. There were +two lone conservative Congressmen. A few months later, in 1869, there +were 64 radical representatives from the South, 20 senators and 44 +members of the House of Representatives. In 1877 this number had +dwindled to two senators and four representatives. The difference +between these figures measures in some degree the extent of the undoing +of reconstruction within the period of Grant's Administration. + +How the Southern whites escaped from negro domination has often been +told and may here be sketched only in outline. The first States regained +from radicalism were those in which the negro population was small and +the black vote large enough to irritate but not to dominate. Although +Northern sentiment, excited by the stories of "Southern outrage," was +then unfavorable, the conservatives of the South, by organizing a "white +man's party" and by the use of Ku Klux methods, made a fight for social +safety which they won nearly everywhere, and, in addition, they gained +political control of several States--Tennessee in 1869, Virginia in +1869-1870, and North Carolina and Georgia in 1870. They almost won +Louisiana in 1868 and Alabama in 1870, but the alarmed radicals came to +the rescue of the situation with the Fifteenth Amendment and the +Enforcement Laws of 1870-1871. With more troops and a larger number of +deputy marshals it seemed that the radicals might securely hold the +remaining States. Arrests of conservatives were numerous, plundering was +at its height, the Federal Government was interested and was friendly to +the new Southern rulers, and the carpetbaggers and scalawags feasted, +troubled only by the disposition of their negro supporters to demand a +share of the spoils. Although the whites made little gain from 1870 to +1874, the States already rescued became more firmly conservative; white +counties here and there in the black States voted out the radicals; a +few more representatives of the whites got into Congress; and the Border +States ranged themselves more solidly with the conservatives. + +But while the Southern whites were becoming desperate under oppression, +public opinion in the North was at last beginning to affect politics. +The elections of 1874 resulted in a Democratic landslide of which the +Administration was obliged to take notice. Grant now grew more +responsive to criticism. In 1875 he replied to a request for troops to +hold down Mississippi: "The whole public are tired out with these annual +autumnal outbreaks in the South and the great majority are ready now to +condemn any interference on the part of the Government." As soon as +conditions in the South were better understood in the North, ready +sympathy and political aid were offered by many who had hitherto acted +with the radicals. The Ku Klux report as well as the newspaper writings +and the books of J. S. Pike and Charles Nordhoff, both former opponents +of slavery, opened the eyes of many to the evil results of negro +suffrage. Some who had been considered friends of the negro, now +believing that he had proven to be a political failure, coldly abandoned +him and turned their altruistic interests to other objects more likely +to succeed. Many real friends of the negro were alarmed at the evils of +the reconstruction and were anxious to see the corrupt political leaders +deprived of further influence over the race. To others the constantly +recurring Southern problem was growing stale and they desired to hear +less of it. Within the Republican party in each Southern State there +were serious divisions over the spoils. First it was carpetbagger and +negro against the scalawag; later, when the black leaders insisted that +those who furnished the votes must have the larger share of the rewards, +the fight became triangular. As a result, by 1874 the Republican party +in the South was split into factions and was deserted by a large +proportion of its white membership. + +The conservative whites, fiercely resentful after their experiences +under the enforcement laws and hopeful of Northern sympathy, now planned +a supreme effort to regain their former power. Race lines were more +strictly drawn; ostracism of all that was radical became the rule; the +Republican party in the South, it was apparent, was doomed to be only a +negro party weighed down by the scandal of bad government; the state +treasuries were bankrupt, and there was little further opportunity for +plunder. These considerations had much to do with the return of +scalawags to the "white man's party" and the retirement of carpetbaggers +from Southern politics. There was no longer anything in it, they said; +let the negro have it! + +It was under these conditions that the "white man's party" carried the +elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in 1874, and Mississippi in +1875. Asserting that it was a contest between civilization and +barbarism, and that the whites under the radical régime had no +opportunity to carry an election legally, the conservatives openly made +use of every method of influencing the result that could possibly come +within the radical law and they even employed many effective methods +that lay outside the law. Negroes were threatened with discharge from +employment and whites with tar and feathers if they voted the radical +ticket; there were night-riding parties, armed and drilled "white +leagues," and mysterious firing of guns and cannon at night; much plain +talk assailed the ears of the radical leaders; and several bloody +outbreaks occurred, principally in Louisiana and Mississippi. Louisiana +had been carried by the Democrats in the fall of 1872, but the radical +returning board had reversed the election. In 1874 the whites rose in +rebellion and turned out Kellogg, the usurping Governor, but President +Grant intervened to restore him to office. The "Mississippi" or +"shot-gun plan" ¹ was very generally employed, except where the contest +was likely to go in favor of the whites without the use of undue +pressure. The white leaders exercised a moderating influence, but the +average white man had determined to do away with negro government even +though the alternative might be a return of military rule. Congress +investigated the elections in each State which overthrew the +reconstructionists, but nothing came of the inquiry and the population +rapidly settled down into good order. After 1875 only three States were +left under radical government--Louisiana and Florida, where the +returning boards could throw out any Democratic majority, and South +Carolina, where the negroes greatly outnumbered the whites. + +¹ See The New South, by Holland Thompson (in The Chronicles of America). + +Reconstruction could hardly be a genuine issue in the presidential +campaign of 1876, because all except these three reconstructed States +had escaped from radical control, and there was no hope and little real +desire of regaining them. It was even expected that in this year the +radicals would lose Louisiana and Florida to the "white man's party." +The leaders of the best element of the Republicans, both North and +South, looked upon the reconstruction as one of the prime causes of the +moral breakdown of their party; they wanted no more of the Southern +issue but planned a forward-looking, constructive reform. + +To some of the Republican leaders, however, among whom was James G. +Blaine, it was clear that the Republican party, with its unsavory record +under Grant's Administration, could hardly go before the people with a +reform program. The only possible thing to do was to revive some Civil +War issue--"wave the bloody shirt" and fan the smoldering embers of +sectional feeling. Blaine met with complete success in raising the +desired issue. In January 1876, when an amnesty measure was brought +before the House, he moved that Jefferson Davis be excepted on the +ground that he was responsible for the mistreatment of Union prisoners +during the war. Southern hot-bloods replied, and Blaine skillfully led +them on until they had foolishly furnished him with ample material for +campaign purposes. The feeling thus aroused was so strong that it even +galvanized into seeming life the dying interest in the wrongs of the +negro. The rallying cry "Vote as you shot!" gave the Republicans +something to fight for; the party referred to its war record, claimed +credit for preserving the Union, emancipating the negro, and +reconstructing the South, and demanded that the country be not +"surrendered to rebel rule." + +Hayes and Tilden, the rival candidates for the presidency, were both men +of high character and of moderate views. Their nominations had been +forced by the better element of each party. Hayes, the Republican +candidate, had been a good soldier, was moderate in his views on +Southern questions, and had a clean political reputation. Tilden, his +opponent, had a good record as a party man and as a reformer, and his +party needed only to attack the past record of the Republicans. The +principal Democratic weakness lay in the fact that the party drew so +much of its strength from the white South and was therefore subjected to +criticism on Civil War issues. + +The campaign was hotly contested and was conducted on a low plane. Even +Hayes soon saw that the "bloody shirt" issue was the main vote winner. +The whites of the three "unredeemed" Southern States nerved themselves +for the final struggle. In South Carolina and in some parishes of +Louisiana there was a considerable amount of violence, in which the +whites had the advantage, and much fraud, which the Republicans, who +controlled the election machinery, turned to best account. It has been +said that out of the confusion which the Republicans created they won +the presidency. + +The first election returns seemed to give Tilden the victory with 184 +undisputed electoral votes and popular majorities of ninety and over six +thousand respectively in Florida and Louisiana; only 185 votes were +needed for a choice. Hayes had 166 votes, not counting Oregon, in which +one vote was in dispute, and South Carolina, which for a time was +claimed by both parties. Had Louisiana and Florida been Northern States, +there would have been no controversy, but the Republican general +headquarters knew that the Democratic majorities in these States had to +go through Republican returning boards, which had never yet failed to +throw them out. + +The interest of the nation now centered around the action of the two +returning boards. At the suggestion of President Grant, prominent +Republicans went South to witness the count. Later prominent Democrats +went also. These "visiting statesmen" were to support the frail +returning boards in their duty. It was generally understood that these +boards, certainly the one in Louisiana, were for sale, and there is +little doubt that the Democrats inquired the price. But they were afraid +to bid on such uncertain quantities as Governor Wells and T. C. Anderson +of Louisiana, both notorious spoilsmen. The members of the boards in +both States soon showed the stiffening effect of the moral support of +the Federal Administration and of the "visiting statesmen." Reassured as +to their political future, they proceeded to do their duty: in Florida +they threw out votes until the ninety majority for Tilden was changed to +925 for Hayes, and in Louisiana, by throwing out about fifteen thousand +carefully selected ballots, they changed Tilden's lowest majority of six +thousand to a Hayes majority of nearly four thousand. Naturally the +Democrats sent in contesting returns, but the presidency was really won +when the Republicans secured in Louisiana and Florida returns which were +regular in form. But hoping to force Congress to go behind the returns, +the Democrats carried up contests also from Oregon and South Carolina, +whose votes properly belonged to Hayes. + +The final contest came in Congress over the counting of the electoral +votes. The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate +shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, +open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted." But +there was no agreement as to where authority lay for deciding disputed +votes. Never before had the presidency turned on a disputed count. From +1864 to 1874 the "twenty-second joint rule" had been in force under +which either House might reject a certificate. The votes of Georgia in +1868 and of Louisiana in 1872 had thus been thrown out. But the rule had +not been readopted by the present Congress, and the Republicans very +naturally would not listen to a proposal to readopt it now. + +With the country apparently on the verge of civil war, Congress finally +created by law an Electoral Commission to which were to be referred all +disputes about the counting of votes and the decision of which was to be +final unless both Houses concurred in rejecting it. The act provided +that the commission should consist of five senators, five +representatives, four designated associate justices of the Supreme +Court, and a fifth associate justice to be chosen by these four. While +nothing was said in the act about the political affiliations of the +members of the commission, every one understood that the House would +select three Democrats and two Republicans, and that the Senate would +name two Democrats and three Republicans. It was also well known that of +the four justices designated two were Republicans and two Democrats, and +it was tacitly agreed that the fifth would be Justice David Davis, an +"independent." But at the last moment Davis was elected Senator by the +Illinois Legislature and declined to serve on the Commission. Justice +Bradley, a Republican, was then named as the fifth justice, and in this +way the Republicans obtained a majority on the Commission. + +The Democrats deserve the credit for the Electoral Commission. The +Republicans did not favor it, even after they were sure of a party +majority on it. They were conscious that they had a weak case, and they +were afraid to trust it to judges of the Supreme Court. Their fears were +groundless, however, since all important questions were decided by an 8 +to 7 vote, Bradley voting with his fellow Republicans. Every contested +vote was given to Hayes, and with 185 electoral votes he was declared +elected on March 2, 1877. + +Ten years before, Senator Morton of Indiana had said: "I would have been +in favor of having the colored people of the South wait a few years +until they were prepared for the suffrage, until they were to some +extent educated, but the necessities of the times forbade that; the +conditions of things required that they should be brought to the polls +at once." Now the condition of things required that some arrangement be +made with the Southern whites which would involve a complete reversal of +the situation of 1867. In order to secure the unopposed succession of +Hayes, to defeat filibustering which might endanger the decision of the +Electoral Commission, politicians who could speak with authority for +Hayes assured influential Southern politicians, who wanted no more civil +war but who did want home rule, that an arrangement might be made which +would be satisfactory to both sides. + +So the contest was ended. Hayes was to be President; the South, with the +negro, was to be left to the whites; there would be no further military +aid to carpetbag governments. In so far as the South was concerned, it +was a fortunate settlement--better, indeed, than if Tilden had been +inducted into office. The remnants of the reconstruction policy were +surrendered by a Republican President, the troops were soon withdrawn, +and the three radical States fell at once under the control of the +whites. Hayes could not see in his election any encouragement to adopt a +vigorous radical position, and Congress was deadlocked on party issues +for fifteen years. As a result the radical Republicans had to develop +other interests, and the North gradually accepted the Southern +situation. + +Although the radical policy of reconstruction came to an end in 1877, +some of its results were more lasting. The Southern States were burdened +heavily with debt, much of which had been fraudulently incurred. There +now followed a period of adjustment, of refunding, scaling, and +repudiation, which not only injured the credit of the States but left +them with enormous debts. The Democratic party under the leadership of +former Confederates began its régime of strict economy, race fairness, +and inelastic Jeffersonianism. There was a political rest which almost +amounted to stagnation and which the leaders were unwilling to disturb +by progressive measures lest a developing democracy make trouble with +the settlement of 1877. + +The undoing of reconstruction was not entirely completed with the +understanding of 1877. There remained a large but somewhat shattered +Republican party in the South, with control over county and local +government in many negro districts. Little by little the Democrats +rooted out these last vestiges of negro control, using all the old +radical methods and some improvements,¹ such as tissue ballots, the +shuffling of ballot boxes, bribery, force, and redistricting, while some +regions were placed entirely under executive control and were ruled by +appointed commissions. With the good government which followed these +changes a deadlocked Congress showed no great desire to interfere. The +Supreme Court came to the aid of the Democrats with decisions in 1875, +1882, and 1883 which drew the teeth from the Enforcement Laws, and +Congress in 1894 repealed what was left of these regulations. + +¹ See The New South, by Holland Thompson (in The Chronicles of America). + +Under such discouraging conditions the voting strength of the +Republicans rapidly melted away. The party organization existed for the +Federal offices only and was interested in keeping down the number of +those who desired to be rewarded. As a consequence, the leaders could +work in harmony with those Democratic chiefs who were content with a +"solid South" and local home rule. The negroes of the Black Belt, with +less enthusiasm and hope, but with quite the same docility as in 1868, +began to vote as the Democratic leaders directed. This practice brought +up in another form the question of "negro government" and resulted in a +demand from the people of the white counties that the negro be put +entirely out of politics. The answer came between 1890 to 1902 in the +form of new and complicated election laws or new constitutions which in +various ways shut out the negro from the polls and left the government +to the whites. Three times have the Black Belt regions dominated the +Southern States: under slavery, when the master class controlled; under +reconstruction, when the leaders of the negroes had their own way; and +after reconstruction until negro disfranchisement, when the Democratic +dictators of the negro vote ruled fairly but not always acceptably to +the white counties which are now the source of their political power. + + + + Bibliographical Note. + +The best general accounts of the reconstruction period are found in +James Ford Rhodes's History of the United States from the Compromise of +1850 to the Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877, volumes V, +VI, VII (1906); in William A. Dunning's Reconstruction, Political and +Economic, 1865-1877, in the American Nation Series, volume XXII (1907); +and in Peter Joseph Hamilton's The Reconstruction Period (1905), which +is volume XVI of The History of North America, edited by F. N. Thorpe. +The work of Rhodes is spacious and fair-minded but there are serious +gaps in his narrative; Dunning's briefer account covers the entire field +with masterly handling; Hamilton's history throws new light on all +subjects and is particularly useful for an understanding of the Southern +point of view. A valuable discussion of constitutional problems is +contained in William A. Dunning's Essay on the Civil War and +Reconstruction and Related Topics (1904); and a criticism of the +reconstruction policies from the point of view of political science and +constitutional law is to be found in J. W. Burgess's Reconstruction and +the Constitution, 1866-1876 (1902). E. B. Andrews's The United States in +our own Time (1903) gives a popular treatment of the later period. A +collection of brief monographs entitled Why the Solid South? by Hilary +A. Herbert and others (1890) was written as a campaign document to +offset the drive made by the Republicans in 1889 for new enforcement +laws. + +There are many scholarly monographs on reconstruction in the several +States. The best of these are: J. W. Garner's Reconstruction in +Mississippi (1901), W. L. Fleming's Civil War and Reconstruction in +Alabama (1905), J. G. deR. Hamilton's Reconstruction in North Carolina +(1914), W. W. Davis's The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida +(1913), J. S. Reynolds's Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865-1877 +(1905); C. W. Ramsdell's Reconstruction in Texas (1910), and C. M. +Thompson's Reconstruction in Georgia (1915). + +Books of interest on special phases of reconstruction are not numerous, +but among those deserving mention are Paul S. Pierce's The Freedmen's +Bureau (1904), D. M. DeWitt's The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew +Johnson (1903), and Paul L. Haworth's The Hayes-Tilden Disputed +Presidential Election of 1876 (1906), each of which is a thorough study +of its field. J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson's Ku Klux Klan (1905) and M. +L. Avary's Dixie After the War (1906) contribute much to a fair +understanding of the feeling of the whites after the Civil War; and +Gideon Welles, Diary, 3 vols. (1911), is a mine of information from a +conservative cabinet officer's point of view. + +For the politician's point of view one may go to James G. Blaine's +Twenty Years of Congress, 2 vols. (1884, 1886) and Samuel S. Cox's Three +Decades of Federal Legislation (1885). Good biographies are James A. +Woodburn's The Life of Thaddeus Stevens (1913), Moorfield Storey's +Charles Sumner (1900), C. F. Adams's Charles Francis Adams (1900). Less +satisfactory because more partisan is Edward Stanwood's James Gillespie +Blaine (1906). There are no adequate biographies of the Democratic and +Southern leaders. + +The official documents are found conveniently arranged in William +McDonald's Select Statutes, 1861-1898 (1903), and also with other +material in Walter L. Fleming's Documentary History of Reconstruction, 2 +vols. (1906, 1907). The general reader is usually repelled by the +collections known as Public Documents. The valuable Ku Klux Trials +(1872) is, however, separately printed and to be found in most good +libraries. By a judicious use of the indispensable Tables and Index to +Public Documents, one can find much vividly interesting material in +connection with contested election cases and reports of congressional +investigations into conditions in the South. + + + + +INDEX + + +A. + +Abolitionists, views on reconstruction, 60-61. +Adams, C. F., candidate for presidential nomination, 287. +Advertiser, Boston, Sidney Andrews as correspondent for, 28. +Advertiser of Montgomery, and education, 212. +Agriculture in the South, 267-269, 271, 273-274. +Alabama, corruption, 10-11; poverty, 14; Protestant Episcopal churches +closed, 23; labor, 47, 110, 268; negro legislation, 97; courts, 111; and +Fourteenth Amendment, 132; negro voters, 151, 222; constitutional +convention, 153; constitution, 153-154, 155; abstention policy, 155, +156, 158, 223; readmitted, 157, 170; Union League in, 189; negro +churches, 206; schools, 215; illiterate magistrates, 225; negro +legislators, 226; taxes, 231; public debt, 232; decrease in property +values, 233; value of railroads, 236; negro voting, 238; two governments +in, 239; legislature, 240; vigilance committee, 245; Ku Klux in, 246; +partially Democratic in 1870, 260; permits mixed marriages, 276; and +radicalism, 290; election (1874), 293. +Alabama claims, 283. +Alabama, University of, 3, 210, 216. +Alexandria (Va.), Virginia Government transferred to, 65, 74. +Alvord, J. W., quoted, 211. +Amendments, see Constitution. +Ames, General Adelbert, commands military district, 141 (note). +Amnesty, Johnson's proclamation, 9, 75; use of pardoning power, 87; Act +of 1872, 288-289; measure (1876), 295. +Anderson, T. C., of Louisiana, 298. +Andrew, J. A., Governor of Massachusetts, reconstruction policy, 61-62, +68. +Andrews, General Garnett, on fear of negroes, 278. +Andrews, Sidney, correspondent for Boston Advertiser, 28. +Appomattox, Grant at, 280. +Arkansas, 262; recognizes "Union" State government, 18; Lincoln's +reconstruction plan adopted (1862), 65; Johnson recognizes government, +74; negro labor, 99; representatives refused admission to Congress, 119; +abstention policy in regard to constitution, 155, 156, 170; schools, +215; scalawags in, 222; corruption, 233; railroad grant, 235; split in +state government, 239; election (1874), 293. +Armstrong's Hampton Institute, see Hampton Institute. +Army, officers assist civil authorities in South, 75-76; utilizes negro +labor, 99-100; military rule in South, 135, 140 et seq.; see also +Occupation, Army of. +Ashley, J. M., of Ohio, 160. +Atlanta (Ga.), post-war condition, 5. +Attakapas Parish (La.), Ku Klux incident, 254-255. + + +B. + +Banks, General Nathaniel, and captured slaves, 99. +Baptist Church, 198, 202. +Beauregard, General P. G. T., on negro suffrage, 147-148. +Bingham, J. A., and impeachment of Johnson, 166. +Black, Jeremiah, and impeachment of Johnson, 166. +"Black Belt," post-war condition, 40-41; industrial revolution in, +265-267; and whites, 271; cotton production, 271-272 (note); domination +of South by, 304; see also South. +Black Cavalry, 245. +Black Friday episode, 283. +"Black Laws," 89-90, 93-98, 115-116, 127, 141; see also Negroes, +legislation. +Blaine, J. G., quoted, 125; and Republican party, 295. +Blair, F. P., of Missouri, Democratic nomination (1868), 168-169. +"Bloody shirt" issue in campaign of 1876, 295-296. +Border States, reconstruction in, 85-86; see also South. +Botts, J. M., of Virginia, 107. +Boutwell, G. S., radical leader, 122, 125; and tenure of office act, +134; and impeachment of Johnson, 166. +Boynton, General H. V. N., on Southern need of supplies, 5-6. +Bradley, Justice J. P., on electoral commission, 300. +"Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity," 275. +Brown, J. E., Governor of Georgia, and negro education, 212. +Brown, Gratz, candidate for presidential nomination, 287. +Brownlow, W. G., Governor of Tennessee, 224. +Bruce, B. K., negro senator, 242 (note). +Buchanan, General R. C., commands military district in South, 141 +(note). +Bullock County (Ala.), Union League in, 192. +Butler, General B. F., and negro labor, 99; radical, 125; and +impeachment of Johnson, 160, 166. + + +C. + +Campbell, Judge, Lincoln gives reconstruction terms to, 67. +Canby, General, commands military department in South, 140-141 (note), +163. +Cardozo, school official in Mississippi, 216. +Carpetbaggers, appointed to Federal offices, 80; in radical Republican +party, 149; in conventions, 153; and Union League, 193; and religion, +205; rule in South, 221 et seq.; use of term, 222; and equal rights +issue, 275-276; government in hands of, 289 (note); against scalawags, +292. +Carter, Speaker of Louisiana Legislature, and railroad bills, 235. +Catholic Church, 23, 198. +Chamberlain, D. H., Governor of South Carolina, 225. +Charleston (S. C.), post-war condition, 5. +Chase, S. P., counsels against seizure of cotton, 9; and negro suffrage, +28, 50, 132; opposed to military reconstruction, 159; advises Johnson +against suspending Stanton, 163; and impeachment of Johnson, 166-167. +Civil Rights Act, 84, 137, 141, 277. +Clanton, General J. H., of Alabama, on position of whites, 250. +Clayton, Judge, of Alabama, opinion of Freedmen's Bureau, 90. +Clayton, Mrs., Black and White under the Old Régime, quoted, 38-39. +Cleveland, soldiers' and sailors' convention at, 130; Union League +formed (1862), 176-177. +Clinton (Miss.), race conflict in, 237 (note). +Cloud, school official in Alabama, 216. +Colfax, Schuyler, candidate for Vice President (1868), 168. +Colfax (La.), race conflict in, 237 (note). +Columbia (S. C.), post-war condition, 5. +Congress, impatient of executive precedence, 65-66, 119-120; and +Southern representatives, 80, 86, 119-120, 128; refuses to recognize +reconstructed governments, 81; Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 82, +84, 121, 125-126, 127, 129-130, 131, 198, 266 (note); Fourteenth +Amendment, 82, 85, 130; see also Constitution; radical reconstruction +plans, 83-84; radicalism, 83-84, 118 et seq., 285; Civil Rights Act, 84, +137, 141, 277; and Johnson, 126 et seq.; assumes control of +reconstruction, 129, 142-143; Tenure of Office Act, 134; Army +Appropriation Act, 134; reconstruction acts, 134-137, 158-160; supreme +control, 140; and Supreme Court, 158-159; impeachment of President, 160 +et seq.; and Grant, 171; negro members, 230, 242; Committee on the +Condition of the South, 241; Committee on the Late Insurrectionary +States, 241; enforcement acts, 260, 261-262, 290, 292, 303; "Ku Klux +Bill," 261, 262; committee to investigate conditions in Southern States, +262; Amnesty Act (1872), 288-289; decline of radicalism, 289 (note), +290; investigates election, 294; amnesty measure (1876), 295; Electoral +Commission, 299-300; deadlocked by party issues, 302. +Connecticut and negro suffrage, 285. +Constitution, Johnson and, 72, 162; Thirteenth Amendment, 79; Fourteenth +Amendment, 82, 84, 85, 130, 131-133, 135-136, 137, 156, 172; Fifteenth +Amendment, 169-170, 171, 172, 222, 290. +Constitutional conventions in South, 152 et seq. +Constitutional Union Guards, 245. +Conway, school official in Louisiana, 216. +Copperheads, 176. +Cotton, tax on, 8; seized, 9-11; destruction of, 11; production (1880), +271-272 (note). +Council of Safety, 245. +Coushatta (La.), race conflict in, 237 (note). +Cowan, administration Republican, 122. +Credit Mobilier, 282. +Crittenden-Johnson resolutions, 55, 69. +Cuba, United States and, 284. +Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 204. +Cummings vs. Missouri, 159. +Curry, J. L. M., and negro education, 212, 214-215. +Curtis, B. R., counsel at impeachment, 166. + + +D. + +Davis, David, candidate for presidential nomination, 287; and Electoral +Commission, 300. +Davis, Jefferson, prayer in Church for, 23; succeeded by negro in +Senate, 230; disfranchised, 289; and amnesty, 295. +Davis, Nicholas, characterizes Lakin, 205-206. +De Bow, J. D. B., on negro labor, 266 (note). +Democratic party, and Crittenden-Johnson resolutions, 55, 69; at end of +war, 70; Douglas Democrats, 70, 87; and Johnson, 70, 88, 138; +"Democratic and Conservative" party, 150; platform (1868), 169; Union +League and, 188, 190-191; in Congress from South, 230; Southern +Unionists turn to, 277; and Civil Rights Act, 277; "New Departure," +Democrats, 287; supports Greeley, 288; and election of 1876, 297-298; +and Electoral Commission, 300; during period of adjustment, 302, 303. +Dennison, William, resigns from Cabinet, 131. +District of Columbia, negro suffrage in, 134; corruption, 282. +Dixon, James, administration Republican, 122. +Dixon, W. H., 29. +Doolittle, administration Republican, 122. +Douglass, Frederick, quoted, 37-38. + + +E. + +Eaton, John, chaplain in Grant's army, 99. +Eaton, Colonel John, 106. +Education, negro, 45; Freedmen's Bureau and, 111-112; in South, 208-220. +Elections under carpetbag rule, 237-239. +Electoral Commission, 299-300. +Emancipation Proclamation, 36, 176. +Enforcement acts, 260-261, 290, 292, 303. +Episcopal Church, 198, 204. +Evarts, W. M., counsel at impeachment, 166. +Ewing, Thomas, nominated Secretary of War, 164. + + +F. + +Fessenden, General, Freedmen's Bureau official, 106. +Fessenden, W. P., moderate Republican, 122; and negro suffrage, 132. +Finance, post-war condition in South, 2, 5; war taxes, 8; license taxes, +76; repudiation of Confederate war debt, 77, 130; under military +governors, 145-146; effect of bad government in South, 230-236; credit +system, 270; readjustments, 283; panic of 1873, 283. +Fish, C. R., The Path of Empire, cited, 284 (note). +Fisk, General, criticism of Kentucky Legislature, 113. +Fisk, James, 283, 286. +Florida, negro colony in, 36; negro legislation, 96; and Fourteenth +Amendment, 132; negro voters, 151; schools, 215; recitation in negro +school, 218-219; and reconstruction government, 221; corruption, 226; +taxes, 231; decrease in property values, 233; Equal Rights Law, 276; and +radicals, 294, 295; election of 1876, 297, 298. +Forrest, General, Grand Wizard of Ku Klux, 248, 259. +Freedmen, see Negroes. +Freedmen's Aid Societies, 177, 207, 213. +Freedmen's Bureau, 38, 81, 82, 85, 86, 90, 126, 161, 187; confiscable +property turned over to, 11; official describes conditions in South, +13-14; as relief agency, 15; in Kentucky, 26; as publicity agent, 28; +and contract labor, 46; on relations between races, 48; agitators from, +53; extension, 74, 84, 128, 129; and negroes, 80, 142, 149, 175; views +of North carried out in, 89; influence on legislation and government, +94, 97, 143; officials of, 97, 98-99; character of, 98; established +(1865), 102-103; functions, 103-104, 107-109; objections to, 104-105, +112-113; organization, 105-107; courts, 110-111, 113-114; educational +work, 111-112; political possibilities, 115; results, 116-117; and +radicals, 131, 156; Union League and, 177, 188, 194 (note), 195; negro +education, 213. +Freedmen's Bureau Act, 128, 129, 137. +Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, 101. +"Freedmen's Readers," 218. +Frémont, J. C., and the radicals, 119. +Fullerton, General, and Freedmen's Bureau, 106, 113; on treatment of +negroes, 112-113. + + +G. + +Garfield, J. A., 132. +Garland, ex parte, 159. +Geneva Arbitration (1872), 283. +Georgetown (D. C.), vote on negro suffrage in, 134. +Georgia, poverty in, 14; government relief, 15; negro colony in, 36; +courts, 111, 113; military government, 143, 144; suit against Stanton, +159; military rule resumed, 170; reconstruction in, 171-172, 221; +legislature, 172, 240; representatives in Congress, 172, 289 (note); +negro voters, 222; Godkin characterizes officials of, 226; holds mixed +marriages illegal, 276; conservatives gain control in, 290; election +(1868), 299. +Gillem, General, commands military department, 141 (note). +Godkin, E. L., quoted, 180 (note); on Georgia politicians, 226. +Gordon, J. B., and negro education, 212. +Gould, Jay, 283, 286. +Grant, U. S., 186, 224, 280, 297; urges use of white troops in South, +21; orders arrest of paroled Confederates, 22; report on South, 28, 29; +protests arrest of Southern military leaders, 74; and captured slaves, +99; and Freedmen's Bureau, 106; Army Appropriation Act, 134; radicalism, +141 (note), 239-240; Congress gives full powers to, 143; temporarily +Secretary of War, 163; and Stanton, 163, 165; nominated by National +Union party, 168; elected President, 169; reconstruction, 171; and +enforcement acts, 260-261; expansionist, 283-284; vote for, 285-286; +appointees, 286; reëlection, 288; refuses to interfere in Mississippi, +291; restores Kellogg to office, 294. +Greeley, Horace, candidate for Presidency, 287-288. +Greene, S. S., quoted, 208. +Groesbeck, W. S., counsel at impeachment, 166. +Guthrie, James, Democratic leader, 122. + + +H. + +Hahn, Michael, Governor of Louisiana, Lincoln's letter to, 66-67. +Hail Columbia sung at Union League initiation, 183. +Halleck, General H. W., orders in regard to marriage, 20. +Hampton, General Wade, 174, 175; letter to Johnson, 31; and negro +suffrage, 51; and Freedmen's Bureau, 107. +Hampton Institute, 220; teacher's remark on negro education, 211-212. +Hancock, General W. S., commands military department, 141 (note), 163. +Hardee, General W. J., quoted, 244. +Harlan, James, resigns from Cabinet, 131. +Harris, I. G., on Johnson, 72. +Hayes, R. B., candidate for presidency, 296, 297, 298; elected, 300, +301; and radicalism, 302. +Hell Hole Swamp, 234. +Hendricks, T. A., Democratic leader, 122. +Herald, New York, Knox as correspondent of, 28; on radical +reconstruction, 148. +Heroes of America, 179, 245. +Hill, B. H., of Georgia, and "Jim Crow" theory, 277. +Hill, General D. H., of North Carolina, 279 (note). +Hill, Thomas, President of Harvard, 209. +Holden, W. W., provisional governor of North Carolina, 75, 77, 224, 232; +and Union League, 185, 189. +Home Guards, 245. +Howard, General O. O., head of Freedmen's Bureau, 105. +Humphreys, B. G., Governor of Mississippi, opinion of Freedmen's Bureau, +90; advocates civil equality, 91. + + +I. + +Immigration to South, negroes against, 268. +Impeachment of President, 160 et seq. +Irish, South Carolina imports, 271. + + +J. + +Jackson (Miss.), post-war condition, 5. +Jews in South, 23, 274. +Jillson, school official in South Carolina, 216. +"Jim Crow," car, 95; theory of "separate but equal" rights, 277. +John Brown's Body sung in Union League initiation, 184. +Johnson, Andrew, amnesty proclamation, 9, 75; policies opposed by +Andrews, 28; and negro suffrage, 50, 78; reconstruction policy, 57-58, +73 et seq., 83; military governor of Tennessee, 65; nomination, 70; +personal characteristics, 71-72, 73; adopts Lincoln's policy, 73, 88; +and Congress, 80 et seq., 118, 119, 120-121, 126 et seq., 288; use of +pardoning power, 87; speechmaking tour to the West, 131; impeachment, +158 et seq.; and Stanton, 163-165. +Johnson, Reverdy, 122. + + +K. + +Kansas and negro suffrage, 156, 285. +Kelley, "Pig Iron," of Pennsylvania, 150. +Kellogg, W. P., Governor of Louisiana, 224-225, 294. +Kentucky, Confederates in, 25-26; and abolition of slavery, 36; +exception in reconstruction problem, 86. +Knights of the Golden Circle, 176. +Knights of the White Camelia, 237, 246, 251-252, 259. +Knox, T. W., correspondent for New York Herald, 28. +Ku Klux Klan, 191, 237, 243 et seq., 290; development, 49, 243-246; and +Freedmen's Bureau, 107; and Union League, 194 (note); activities, 207, +219, 240, 252 et seq., 263-264; organization, 246-249; objects, 249-250, +252, 263; report of Federal commanders, 250-251; political effects, +260-261; "Ku Klux Act," 261-262; and negro suffrage, 291. + + +L. + +Labor, free negro, 45-47, 266-267, 272-273; Freedmen's Bureau, 46, +109-110, 266; testimony of Joint Committee concerning, 82; importation +of labor, 268. +Lakin, Rev. A. S., agent of Northern Methodist Church in Alabama, +205-206, 207-208. +Land, price after Civil War, 4; fertilizers for, 271, 272. +Lanier, Sidney, letter to Taylor, quoted, 279-280. +Latham, Henry, 29. +Lee, General R. E., president of Washington College, 17-18; and his +uniform, 20; letter to Letcher, 31, 32; kneels beside negro in church, +44; witness before Joint Committee, 125; and military reconstruction, +147; disfranchised, 289. +Legislation, Negro, see "Black Laws." +Leslie, South Carolina carpetbagger, 225. +Letcher, John, Governor of Virginia, Lee writes to, 31, 32. +Lewis, D. P., of Alabama, and Union League, 189. +Lincoln, Abraham, and negro suffrage, 50, 66-67; reconstruction policy, +55-57, 58, 62; and Wade-Davis Bill, 56, 66, 120; last speech quoted, +56-57; reconstruction plan put to trial, 63-68; Proclamation of +December, 1863, 64, 119; and Congress, 65-66, 67-68; nominated by +National Union party (1864), 70; second Cabinet, 70; and radicalism, +119; vote for (1864), 285. +Lincoln Brotherhood, 275. +Lindsay, R. B., Governor of Alabama, on Northern missionaries, 205. +Longstreet, General James, 147. +Louisiana, recognizes "Union" state government, 18; Whitelaw Reid in, +28; Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1862), 65; Johnson recognizes +government of, 74; treatment of negroes by army in, 99; Freedmen's +Bureau courts in, 113; representatives refused admission to Congress, +119-120; military government in, 144; negro voters, 151, 152, 222, 239; +equal rights legislation, 154, 275, 276; schools, 215, 217; carpetbag +rule, 221; conservatives, 223; corruption, 225, 233-234, 235; +legislature, 226, 227, 240; taxes, 231; public debt, 232; decrease in +property values, 233; negro militia, 236-237, two governments in, 239; +government over-turned, 240-241, omitted from Federal investigation, +262; labor, 268; and radicalism, 290, 294, 295; elections, 293-294, 297, +298, 299. +Louisiana State Seminary, 3. +Louisiana State University, 217. +Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 7. +Loyal League, see Union League. +Lynch, negro officeholder, 242 (note). + + +M. + +McCardle, ex parte, 159-160. +McCulloch, Hugh, Secretary of Treasury, and seizure of cotton in South, +9-10; and Johnson, 74, 163. +McDowell, General Irvin, commands military district, 141 (note). +McPherson, Edward, clerk of the House, 121. +Marvin, William, Governor of Florida, on status of negroes, 91, 92, 93. +Maryland, disfranchisement in, 25-26; state emancipation in, 36; and +negro suffrage, 285. +Meade, General G. G., commands military district, 140-141 (note). +Memminger, C. G., Governor of South Carolina, on status of freedmen, +90-91, 92-93. +Memphis (Tenn.), 185; race riots in, 83, 131, 175; convention of +Confederate soldiers and sailors at, 130; surrenders charter, 233. +Men of Justice, 245. +Methodist Church, 198, 199-201, 202, 203-204, 208. +Metropolitan Guard, 237. +Michigan rejects negro suffrage, 156, 285. +Milligan, ex parte, 159. +Minnesota rejects negro suffrage, 156, 285. +Mississippi, poverty in, 14; rejects Thirteenth Amendment, 79; negro +legislation in, 94, 95-96; treatment of negroes by army in, 99; courts, +111; military government, 143, 144, 157; negro voters, 151, 222; +constitution, 153-154, 155; suit against President, 159; reconstruction +fails in, 170; and radicalism, 171; schools, 215, 217, 218; +conservatives, 223; negroes in legislature, 226; taxes, 231; negro +militia, 236; and enforcement acts, 261; permits mixed marriages, 276; +unrepresented in Congress, 289 (note); Grant and interference in, 291; +elections (1875), 293. +Mississippi River, negro colonies along, 37. +Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, 263, 294. +Mississippi, University of, 216. +Missouri, and Confederates, 26; state emancipation in, 36; rejects negro +suffrage, 285. +Mobile (Ala.), post-war condition, 5; surrenders charter, 233. +Montgomery (Ala.), separate organization of Baptist Church in, 203; +negro education, 212; Ku Klux proclamation, 257-258. +Montgomery Conference on Race Problems (1900), Proceedings quoted, +214-215. +Moore, Governor, and negro education, 212. +Morgan, E. D., Senator, and Freedmen's Bureau Act, 129. +Morton, O. P., of Indiana, 125; on negro suffrage, 300-301. +Moses, F. J., Jr., Governor of South Carolina, 224. +Moses, Judge, in South Carolina, 225. + + +N. + +Nash, negro officeholder, 242 (note). +Nation, New York, 180 (note); editorial on post-war church situation +quoted, 201 (note); on corruption of government, 226. +National Teachers Association meeting (1865), 208. +National Union party, Republican party becomes, 70; Whigs and Douglas +Democrats join, 70-71; convention at Philadelphia, 130; nominates Grant, +168. +Negro Affairs, Department of, 177. +Negroes, as soldiers in South, 21-22; problems of reconstruction, 34 et +seq.; health conditions among, 41-42; morals and manners, 42-43; +poverty, 44-45; education, 44-45, 209, 211-220; relations with whites, +47-48, 277-278; lawlessness, 48-49; suffrage, 49-52, 58, 66-67, 78, 84, +85, 134, 169, 284-285, 300-301, 304; Lincoln urges deportation of +freedmen, 66; legislation concerning, 77-78, 89-90, 93-98, 115-116, 127, +141; status at close of war, 89 et seq.; Freedmen's Bureau supervises, +109; Union League and, 181 et seq.; religion, 201-206; rule in South, +221 et seq.; in Congress, 230, 242; and state offices, 242; and Ku Klux, +258; anti-negro movements, 263; labor, 266, 272; "privileges," 269; +advantages, 270-271; as farmers, 271-274; change in condition during +reconstruction, 274-275; mixed marriages, 276. +Nelson, counsel at impeachment, 166. +New England, and negro suffrage, 156, 285; Freedmen's Aid Society, 209. +New Orleans, negro soldiers in, 21-22; riots in, 83, 131, 175, 237 +(note); Northern teachers in, 210; public debt, 232; Federal officials +at, 241. +New York, charity for relief of South, 14; and negro suffrage, 156, 284. +New York City, Union League organized, 177; headquarters for Union +League, 181; corruption in, 282. +Nordhoff, Charles, 291; The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of +1875, cited, 232 (note). +Norfolk, "contraband" camp, 36. +North, free negroes of, 35-36; planters from, 49; capital and labor +from, 268; change in attitude toward South, 282; politics, 291. +North Carolina, negro colonies in, 36, 99; Johnson proclaims restoration +of, 75; committee on laws for freedmen, 91, 92; courts, 111; negro +voters, 152; Union League, 185, 186, 194; carpetbag rule, 221; public +debt, 232; negro militia, 236; Democratic in 1870, 260; and enforcement +acts, 261; conservatives gain control of, 290. +North Carolina, University of, 216. + + +O. + +Occupation, Army of, 18-22, 81; see also Army. +Ohio rejects negro suffrage, 156, 285. +Ord, General E. O. C., commands military division, 140 (note). +Oregon, election of 1876, 297, 298. +Orr, J. L., and negro education, 212. +Orth, S. P., The Boss and the Machine, cited, 282 (note). + + +P. + +Pale Faces, 245, 251. +Patton, R. M., Governor of Alabama, 174, 175; and negro suffrage, 51, +78; and contract labor, 110; and negro education, 212. +Peabody Board, 217-218. +"Peace Societies," 149, 179, 245. +Perry, B. F., Governor of South Carolina, and negro suffrage, 78-79. +Pettus, General, quoted, 250. +Phelps, J. S., military governor of Arkansas, 65. +Philadelphia, convention of National Union party at, 130; Union League +organized (1863), 177. +Phillips, Wendell, Johnson and, 128. +Pike, J. S., 291; account of conditions in South Carolina, 16-17; The +Prostrate State, quoted, 227-230. +Pinchback, P. B. S., negro officeholder, 242 (note). +Pittsburgh, soldiers' and sailors' convention at, 130. +Politics, theoretical basis of, 54-55; see also names of parties. +Pope, General John, commands military district, 140-141 (note). +Poverty, of South after Civil War, 13-14; among negroes, 44. +Presbyterian Church, 198-199, 204. +Prescript, constitution of Ku Klux Klan, 248, 249. +Professions in South after Civil War, 16. +Propaganda, campaign of misrepresentation against South, 82-83; by Union +League, 177-178; see also Publicity. +Publicity, newspaper correspondents in South, 27-29. +Pulaski (Tenn.), Ku Klux Klan originates at, 246; Ku Klux incident, 255. + + +Q. + +Quakers, opinion as to secession, 198. + + +R. + +Radicalism, 118 et seq.; decline of, 289-294. +Railroads, post-war condition in South, 6-7; dishonest speculation, +234-236. +Rainey, negro officeholder, 242 (note). +Randolph, Ryland, editor of Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor, 146, +243-244. +Raymond, administration Republican, 122. +Reconstruction, problems in South, 1 et seq., 86; negro as central +figure, 34 et seq.; executive plans for, 54 et seq.; Crittenden-Johnson +resolutions, 55; Democratic party on, 69; Joint Committee on, 82, 84, +121, 125-126, 127, 129-130, 131, 198, 266 (note); congressional policy +of, 134-139; political issue, 169, 294-295; results of radical policy, +302-304; bibliography, 305-307. +Red String Band, 179, 245. +Reed, Governor of Florida, 276. +Refugees, 14, 108. +Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Bureau of, 102; see also +Freedmen's Bureau. +Reid, Whitelaw, relates incident of Confederate uniforms, 20-21; as +newspaper correspondent, 28; interview with Hampton, 51-52. +Relief agencies, after Civil War, 14-15; Freedmen's Bureau, 15, 107-109; +Government, 15. +Religion, separation of Northern and Southern churches, 23; among +negroes, 43-44; in South, 196-208; military censorship in church +matters, 197; see also names of denominations. +Republican party, and reconstruction, 63, 295; during Civil War, 69-70; +secures negro vote, 115; majority in Congress, 138; in South, 148-149, +151, 292; platform (1868), 169; and the North, 284; negro suffrage, +284-285; loses control in House, 286; Liberal Republican movement, 287; +issues (1876), 295-296; and Electoral Commission, 300; decline of +strength, 303. +Revels, negro officeholder, 242 (note). +Rhodes, J. F., on congressional policy of reconstruction, 118-119. +Richmond (Va.), post-war condition, 5; Halleck's order in regard to +marriage, 20; incident of Lee and a negro in church, 43-44; Lincoln and +Confederate Government in, 67. +Rifle Clubs of South Carolina, 245-246, 263. +Roads in Tennessee after Civil War, 4. + + +S. + +Saffold, M. J., on negro suffrage, 50. +"Salary Grab," 282. +Santo Domingo, Grant seeks annexation of, 283-284. +Savannah (Ga.), incident relating to Confederate uniforms, 20-21. +Scalawags, in constitutional conventions, 153; desert radicals, 156; +disabilities removed, 171; and the churches, 205; use of term, 222. +Schofield, General J. M., 106; commands military district, 140 (note); +Secretary of War, 167. +Schuckers, J. W., quoted, 166. +Schurz, Carl, on army of occupation, 19; report on conditions in South, +28, 29, 30; on negro labor, 45-46. +Scott, R. K., Governor of South Carolina, 236. +Sea Islands, negroes sent to, 36, 103, 114. +Seward, W. H., and Jackson, 74; expansionist, 283. +Seymour, Horatio, of New York, 168, 169. +Sharkey, W. L., Governor of Mississippi, 78. +Shepherd, A. R., 282. +Shepley, General G. F., military governor of Louisiana, 65. +Sheridan, General P. H., commands military district, 140-141 (note); +Johnson removes, 163; "banditti" report, 241. +Sherman, General W. T., 28, 36; Sea Island order, 103, 114. +Shot Gun Plan, see Mississippi Shot Gun Plan. +Sickles, General D. E., commands military district, 140-141 (note); +removed by Johnson, 163. +Slavery, Abolition of, Lincoln and, 58, 66; Johnson and, 58, 76; Sumner +and, 59; see also Emancipation Proclamation. +Smith, Gerrit, view of reconstruction, 60-61. +Smith, W. H., Governor of Alabama, 207, 224; quoted, 24. +Somers, Robert, English writer on the South, 4, 28-29, 41-42, 269. +Sons of '76, 245. +South, post-war condition, 2 et seq.; exploitation by Northerners, +26-27; relation between races, 47-48; Presidents' work of +reconstruction, 54 et seq.; see also Reconstruction; conference of +governors of, 85; military rule in, 140 et seq.; churches, 196-208; +schools, 208-220; carpetbag and negro rule, 221 et seq.; social +conditions, 265 et seq. +South Carolina, Pike's account of post-war condition, 16-17; negroes on +Sea Islands of, 36; negro legislation, 94, 95, 96, 275, 276; negro +voters, 151, 152, 222; race lines abolished, 154; schools, 215-216, 217; +carpetbag rule, 221, 225; conservatives, 223; judiciary, 225; negroes in +legislature of, 226, 227; taxes, 231; public debt, 232; corruption, 234; +negro militia, 236; elections, 239, 297, 298; put under martial law, +261; labor, 267, 268; Irish in, 271; and radicalism, 294. +South Carolina, University of, 216-217. +Southwest, Southern whites open lands in, 271. +Spain, relations with United States, 284. +Speed, James, resigns from Cabinet, 131. +Spencer, General, 189. +Stanbery, Henry, Attorney-General, opinion on reconstruction laws, 142; +counsel at impeachment, 166. +Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, 67; draws up army act, 134; radical, +142; Johnson and, 162-163; suit brought against, by Georgia, 159. +Star Routes, 282. +Star Spangled Banner, The, sung at Union League initiation, 183. +Stearns, M. L., Governor of Florida, 224. +Steedman, General J. B., 106, 113. +Stephens, A. H., witness before Joint Committee, 125-126. +Stephenson, N. W., The Day of the Confederacy, cited, 149 (note); +Abraham Lincoln and the Union, cited, 176 (note). +Stevens, Thaddeus, reconstruction policy, 59-60, 118, 122-123; and +Johnson, 71, 121, 128, 160, 161, 162, 166; radical leader, 122, 127, +133, 173; and negro suffrage, 132; on Military Reconstruction Bill, 135, +138-139; and Alabama, 156. +Stockton, Senator from New Jersey, unseated, 129. +Stoneman, General George, commands military district, 140 (note). +Suffrage, Negro, see Negroes. +Sumner, Charles, reconstruction policy, 58-59, 60, 119; radical leader, +122, 123-124, 127, 133, 173; Johnson and, 128, 162; and negro suffrage, +132; and equal rights, 276-277; and expansion, 284. +Supreme Court, Congress and, 158-160; and Civil Rights Act, 277; and +Enforcement Laws, 303. +Swayne, General Wager, head of Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama, 97, 106; on +contract labor, 110; and courts, 111; and Union League, 189, 192-193; on +negro education, 212. +"Swinging Around the Circle," Johnson's tour of the West, 131. + + +T. + +Tarbell, General John, before Joint Committee on Reconstruction, 30. +Taxation, see Finance. +Taylor, Bayard, Lanier writes to, 279-280. +Taylor, General Richard, 83. +Tennessee, recognizes "Union" government, 18; imposes fines for wearing +Confederate uniform, 20; Confederates in, 25-26; State emancipation in, +36; attitude toward negroes in, 48; Lincoln's reconstruction plan +adopted (1862), 65; Johnson recognizes government of, 74; reconstruction +in, 85; negro labor, 99; readmitted to Congress, 129, 133; and +Fourteenth Amendment, 133; negro voters, 222; and enforcement acts, 261; +omitted from investigation, 262; conservatives gain control of, 290. +Tennessee Valley after Civil War, 4. +Tenure of office act, 134. +Texas, 152, 157, 262; delay in electing officials, 79; military +government in, 143, 144; constitution, 153, 155; reconstruction fails +in, 170; radicals in, 171; Confederates go to, 268; unrepresented in +Congress, 289 (note); elections (1874), 293. +Thach, president of Alabama Agricultural College, 271-272. +Thomas, General G. H., on sentiment of Tennessee, 24-25. +Thomas, Lorenzo, as acting Secretary of War, 164. +Thompson, Holland, The New South, cited, 218 (note), 294 (note), 303 +(note). +Tichenor, Rev. I. T., 202-203. +Tilden, S. J., candidate for presidency, 296, 298, 301. +Tillson, General, quoted, 113. +Tourgée, A. W., chief of Union League in North Carolina, 189. +Trade restrictions in South, 7-12. +Treasury Department, frauds in selling confiscable property in South, +8-12; supervise negro colonies, 37; employer of negro labor, 100. +Tribune, Chicago, Sidney Andrews correspondent for, 28. +Tribune, New York, Horace Greeley as editor of, 288. +Trowbridge, J. T., on frauds in South, 11-12; on sentiment of East +Tennessee toward rebels, 25; correspondent in South, 28; on relation of +races, 48. +Truman, B. C., on society in South, 27; report on conditions in South, +28, 29-30; on negro labor, 46; on relation of races, 48. +Trumbull, Lyman, moderate Republican, 122; candidate for presidential +nomination, 287. +Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor suppressed, 146. +Tuscumbia (Ala.), Female Academy burned in, 185-186. +Tweed, W. M., 282. + + +U. + +Uniforms, wearing of Confederate, forbidden, 20. +Union League of America, 174 et seq., 275; Freedmen's Bureau and, 115; +negroes in, 115, 149; and radicals, 156; and Ku Klux Klan, 247, 256. +Union party, see National Union party. +"United Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen," 275. +United States Sanitary Commission, 176. + + +V. + +Vicksburg (Miss.), public debt, 232; race conflicts, 237 (note); +government overturned, 240-241. +Virginia, 152, 157, 262; recognizes "Union" State government, 18; army +in, 64; Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1863), 65; Lincoln and, +67, 120; Johnson recognizes government of, 74; escaped slaves declared +contraband, 99; military government in, 143, 144; constitution, 154-155, +171; reconstruction fails in, 170; schools, 210; carpetbag rule, 221; +scalawags in, 222; unrepresented in Congress, 289 (note); conservatives +gain control of, 290. +Virginia Military Institute, 3. +Virginius dispute, 284. + + +W. + +Wade, B. F., of Ohio, 67, 129; and Johnson, 73; radical leader, 122, +125; and negro suffrage, 132; and the presidency, 161, 167. +Wade-Davis Bill, 56, 65-66, 120. +Wages, Freedmen's Bureau fixes, 109. +War Department, takes over railways, 6-7; Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen +and Abandoned Lands, 102; see also Freedmen's Bureau. +Warmoth, H. C., Governor of Louisiana, 224-225. +Warner, General, and Union League, 189. +Washington, headquarters of Freedmen's Bureau, 105; vote on negro +suffrage, 134. +Washington and Lee University, 17. +Washington College, later Washington and Lee University, 17. +Watterson, H. M., 28. +Wayland, Francis, President of Brown University, 208-209. +Webb, General A. S., commands military district, 140 (note). +Weitzel, General Godfrey, Lincoln and, 67. +Welles, Gideon, and Johnson, 74. +Wells, Governor of Louisiana, 298. +West, development of, 268, 283. +West Virginia, Confederates in, 25-26; State emancipation in, 36; +established, 64, 65. +Whig party, 70, 71, 87, 149, 150, 179. +Whipper, judge in South Carolina, 225. +Whisky Ring, 282. +White Boys, 245. +White Brotherhood, 245, 251. +White Camelia, see Knights of the White Camelia. +White League, 219, 245, 263. +White Line of Mississippi, 245. +White Man's party of Alabama, 245, 263. +White River Valley and Texas Railroad obtains grant, 235. +White Rose, Order of the, 245. +Wilmer, Bishop R. H., and prayers for Davis, 23. +Wilson, Henry, on reconstruction, 124-125; tours the South, 150. +Wisconsin and negro suffrage, 285. + + + + + + + +The Chronicles of America Series + + 1. The Red Man's Continent + by Ellsworth Huntington + 2. The Spanish Conquerors + by Irving Berdine Richman + 3. Elizabethan Sea-Dogs + by William Charles Henry Wood + 4. The Crusaders of New France + by William Bennett Munro + 5. Pioneers of the Old South + by Mary Johnson + 6. The Fathers of New England + by Charles McLean Andrews + 7. Dutch and English on the Hudson + by Maud Wilder Goodwin + 8. The Quaker Colonies + by Sydney George Fisher + 9. Colonial Folkways + by Charles McLean Andrews +10. The Conquest of New France + by George McKinnon Wrong +11. The Eve of the Revolution + by Carl Lotus Becker +12. Washington and His Comrades in Arms + by George McKinnon Wrong +13. The Fathers of the Constitution + by Max Farrand +14. Washington and His Colleagues + by Henry Jones Ford +15. Jefferson and his Colleagues + by Allen Johnson +16. John Marshall and the Constitution + by Edward Samuel Corwin +17. The Fight for a Free Sea + by Ralph Delahaye Paine +18. Pioneers of the Old Southwest + by Constance Lindsay Skinner +19. The Old Northwest + by Frederic Austin Ogg +20. The Reign of Andrew Jackson + by Frederic Austin Ogg +21. The Paths of Inland Commerce + by Archer Butler Hulbert +22. Adventurers of Oregon + by Constance Lindsay Skinner +23. The Spanish Borderlands + by Herbert Eugene Bolton +24. Texas and the Mexican War + by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson +25. The Forty-Niners + by Stewart Edward White +26. The Passing of the Frontier + by Emerson Hough +27. The Cotton Kingdom + by William E. Dodd +28. The Anti-Slavery Crusade + by Jesse Macy +29. Abraham Lincoln and the Union + by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson +30. The Day of the Confederacy + by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson +31. Captains of the Civil War + by William Charles Henry Wood +32. The Sequel of Appomattox + by Walter Lynwood Fleming +33. The American Spirit in Education + by Edwin E. Slosson +34. The American Spirit in Literature + by Bliss Perry +35. Our Foreigners + by Samuel Peter Orth +36. The Old Merchant Marine + by Ralph Delahaye Paine +37. The Age of Invention + by Holland Thompson +38. The Railroad Builders + by John Moody +39. The Age of Big Business + by Burton Jesse Hendrick +40. The Armies of Labor + by Samuel Peter Orth +41. The Masters of Capital + by John Moody +42. The New South + by Holland Thompson +43. The Boss and the Machine + by Samuel Peter Orth +44. The Cleveland Era + by Henry Jones Ford +45. The Agrarian Crusade + by Solon Justus Buck +46. The Path of Empire + by Carl Russell Fish +47. Theodore Roosevelt and His Times + by Harold Howland +48. Woodrow Wilson and the World War + by Charles Seymour +49. The Canadian Dominion + by Oscar D. Skelton +50. The Hispanic Nations of the New World + by William R. Shepherd + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + + +Introduction + +Welcome to Project Gutenberg's edition of Sequel to Appomattox by Walter +Fleming in the Chronicles of America series. The images were courtesy of +the Abraham Lincoln Edition on the internet archive from the University +of Michigan. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org +</p> + +<p> + Title: The Sequel of Appomattox<br /> + A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States<br /> + Author: Walter Lynwood Fleming<br /> + Release Date: January 2, 2009 [EBook #2897]<br /> + Last Updated: August 26, 2017<br /> + Character set encoding: utf-8 <br /> +</p> + +<p> + Produced by The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's + University, Alev Akman, David Widger, and Robert Homa. + Images were courtesy of the internet archive. +</p> +<br /> +<p class="start"> +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX *** +</p> +</div> + +<div id="titlepage"> + <div id="editorspage"> + <p class="book-title">The Sequel of Appomattox</p> + <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">i</a></span></p> + <p class="edition">Abraham Lincoln Edition</p> + <p> + ∵<br /> + Volume 32 of the<br /> + Chronicles of America Series <br /> + </p> + + <p> + Allen Johnson, Editor<br /> + Assistant Editors<br /> + Gerhard R. Lomer <br /> + Charles W. Jefferys + </p> + </div> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="sumner.png" id="sumner.png"></a> +<img src="images/sumner.png" width="320" height="457" +alt="[Illustration: Charles Sumner]" +title="[Illustration: Charles Sumner]" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="#Illustrations">Charles Sumner.</a><br /> +Photograph by J. W. Black and Co., Boston. In the collection + of the Bostonian Society, Old State House, Boston.</span> + <hr /> +</div> + + <p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">v</a></span></p> + <h1>The Sequel of Appomattox</h1> + <p class="author">By Walter Lynwood Fleming</p> + <p class="book-subtitle">A Chronicle Of the Reunion of the States</p> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="logo.png" id="logo.png"></a> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="299" height="475" +alt="[Illustration: Logo for Chronicles of America Series]" +title="[Illustration: Logo for Chronicles of America Series]" /> + <hr /> +</div> + <p class="publisher-branch"> + New Haven: Yale University Press<br /> + Toronto: Glasgow, Brook & Co.<br /> + London: Humphrey Milford<br /> + Oxford University Press<br /> + 1919 + </p> + <p><br /></p> + <p class="copyright"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">vi</a></span> + Copyright, 1919<br /> + by Yale University Press <br /> + </p> +</div> + +<p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">vii</a></span> + <a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a> + </p> + <h2>Contents.</h2> +<table summary="Table of Contents for The Sequel of Appomattox"> +<caption>The Sequel of Appomattox</caption> +<thead> +<tr> +<th>Chapter</th> +<th>Chapter Title</th> +<th>Page</th> +</tr> +</thead> +<tbody> + <tr> + <td>I.</td> + <td>The Aftermath of War</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter01">1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>II.</td> + <td>When Freedom Cried Out</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter02">34</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>III.</td> + <td>The Work of the Presidents</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter03">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IV.</td> + <td>The Wards of the Nation</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter04">89</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>V.</td> + <td>The Victory of the Radicals</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter05">118</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VI.</td> + <td>The Rule of the Major Generals</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter06">140</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VII.</td> + <td>The Trial of President Johnson</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter07">158</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>VIII.</td> + <td>The Union League of America</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter08">174</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>IX.</td> + <td>Church and School</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter09">196</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>X.</td> + <td>Carpetbag and Negro Rule</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter10">221</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XI.</td> + <td>The Ku Klux Movement</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter11">243</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XII.</td> + <td>The Changing South</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter12">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>XIII.</td> + <td>Restoration of Home Rule</td> + <td><a href="#Chapter13">282</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td>Bibliographical Note</td> + <td><a href="#Biblio">305</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td></td> + <td>Index</td> + <td><a href="#indexChapter">309</a></td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> + + +<p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">ix</a></span> + <a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a> + </p> + <h2>Illustrations.</h2> +<table class="pics" summary="Table of Illustrations for The Sequel of Appomattox"> +<tbody> + <tr> + <td>Charles Sumner</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph by J. W. Black and Co., Boston. In the collection + of the Bostonian Society, Old State House, Boston.</td> + <td><a href="#sumner.png">Frontispiece</a></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Wade Hampton</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph by H. P. Cook, Richmond, Virginia.</td> + <td>Facing Page</td> + <td><a href="#hampton.png">30</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Andrew Johnson</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Engraving after a Photograph by Brady.</td> + <td class="quotes"> " "</td> + <td><a href="#johnson.jpg">70</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Thaddeus Stevens</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph by Brady.</td> + <td class="quotes"> " "</td> + <td><a href="#stevens.png">122</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>President Grant</td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington.</td> + <td class="quotes"> " "</td> + <td><a href="#grant.jpg">170</a></td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + +<p><br /></p> + <hr /> + + <div id="start-of-book"> + <p class="book-title"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_001" id="Page_001">1</a></span> + <a name="Chapter01" id="Chapter01"></a> + THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX + </p> + <p class="triangle-dots">∵</p> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER I.</a> + </h2> + </div> + + <p class="chaptertitle">The Aftermath of War</p> + + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="first-word">When</span> + the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in + 1865, two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the negro was + to be free, and the Union was to be perpetuated. But though slavery and + state sovereignty were no longer at issue, there were still many problems + which pressed for solution. The huge task of reconstruction must be faced. + The nature of the situation required that the measures of reconstruction + be first formulated in Washington by the victors and then worked out in + the conquered South. Since the success of these policies would depend in a + large measure upon their acceptability to both sections of the country, it + was expected that the North would be influenced to some extent + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_002" id="Page_002">2</a></span> + by the + attitude of the Southern people, which in turn would be determined largely + by local conditions in the South. The situation in the South at the close + of the Civil War is therefore the point at which this narrative of the + reconstruction naturally takes its beginning. + </p> + <p> + The surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities + which were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized + people. Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former + neighbors. They found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized, + and the inhabitants in many places suffering from want. They found the + white people demoralized and sometimes divided among themselves, and the + negroes free, bewildered, and disorderly, for organized government had + lapsed with the surrender of the Confederate armies. + </p> + <p> + Beneath a disorganized society lay a devastated land. The destruction of + property affected all classes of the population. The accumulated capital + of the South had disappeared in worthless Confederate stocks, bonds, and + currency. The banks had failed early in the war. Two billion dollars + invested in slaves had been wiped out. Factories which had been running + before the war, or + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_003" id="Page_003">3</a></span> + were developed after 1861 in order to supply the + blockaded country, had been destroyed by Federal raiders or seized and + sold or dismantled because they had furnished supplies to the Confederacy. + Mining industries were paralyzed. Public buildings which had been used for + war purposes were destroyed or confiscated for the uses of the army or for + the new freedmen's schools. It was months before courthouses, state + capitols, school and college buildings were again made available for + normal uses. The military school buildings had been destroyed by the + Federal forces. Among the schools which suffered were the Virginia + Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the Louisiana State + Seminary, and many smaller institutions. Nearly all these had been used in + some way for war purposes and were therefore subject to destruction or + confiscation. + </p> + <p> + The farmers and planters found themselves "land poor." The soil remained, + but there was a prevalent lack of labor, of agricultural equipment, of + farm stock, of seeds, and of money with which to make good the deficiency. + As a result, a man with hundreds of acres might be as poor as a negro + refugee. The desolation is thus described by a Virginia farmer: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_004" id="Page_004">4</a></span> + From Harper's Ferry to New Market, which is about eighty miles … the + country was almost a desert.… We had no cattle, hogs, sheep, or horse or + anything else. The fences were all gone. Some of the orchards were very + much injured, but the fruit trees had not been destroyed. The barns were + all burned; chimneys standing without houses, and houses standing without + roof, or door, or window. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + Much land was thrown on the market at low prices—three to five + dollars an acre for land worth fifty dollars. The poorer lands could not + be sold at all, and thousands of farms were deserted by their owners. + Everywhere recovery from this agricultural depression was slow. Five years + after the war Robert Somers, an English traveler, said of the Tennessee + Valley: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + It consists for the most part of plantations in a state of semi-ruin and + plantations of which the ruin is for the present total and complete.… + The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burnt-up gin-houses, + ruined bridges, mills, and factories … and in large tracts of once + cultivated land stripped of every vestige of fencing. The roads, long + neglected, are in disorder, and having in many places become impassable, + new tracks have been made through the woods and fields without much + respect to boundaries. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Similar conditions existed wherever the armies had passed, and not in the + country districts alone. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_005" id="Page_005">5</a></span> + Many of the cities, such as Richmond, Charleston, + Columbia, Jackson, Atlanta, and Mobile had suffered from fire or + bombardment. + </p> + <p> + There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, and + Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of Southern + merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again. Long + before 1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through the + blockade. That there was a great need of supplies from the outside world + is shown by the following statement of General Boynton: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in the + cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for + four years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers + have tin handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and in very + few families is there enough to set a table.… A set of forks with + whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all + stopped.… Hair brushes and tooth brushes have all worn out; combs + are broken.… Pins, needles, and thread, and a thousand such + articles, which seem indispensable to housekeeping, are very scarce. + Even in weaving on the looms, corncobs have been substituted for spindles. + Few have pocket knives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an + article of sale at the South is wanting now. At the tables of those who + were once esteemed luxurious providers you will find neither tea, coffee, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_006" id="Page_006">6</a></span> + sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some cases, have been + replaced by a cup of grease in which a piece of cloth is plunged for + a wick. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + This poverty was prolonged and rendered more acute by the lack of + transportation. Horses, mules, wagons, and carriages were scarce, the + country roads were nearly impassable, and bridges were in bad repair or + had been burned or washed away. Steamboats had almost disappeared from the + rivers. Those which had escaped capture as blockade runners had been + subsequently destroyed or were worn out. Postal facilities, which had + been poor enough during the last year of the Confederacy, were entirely + lacking for several months after the surrender. + </p> + <p> + The railways were in a state of physical dilapidation little removed from + destruction, save for those that had been captured and kept in partial + repair by the Federal troops. The rolling stock had been lost by capture, + by destruction to prevent capture, in wrecks, which were frequent, or had + been worn out. The railroad companies possessed large sums in Confederate + currency and in securities which were now valueless. About two-thirds of + all the lines were hopelessly bankrupt. Fortunately, the United States War + Department took over the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_007" id="Page_007">7</a></span> + control of the railway lines and in some cases + effected a temporary reorganization which could not have been accomplished + by the bankrupt companies. During the summer and fall of 1865 "loyal" + boards of directors were appointed for most of the roads, and the army + withdrew its control. But repairs and reconstruction were accomplished + with difficulty because of the demoralization of labor and the lack of + funds or credit. Freight was scarce and, had it not been for government + shipments, some of the railroads would have been abandoned. Not many + people were able to travel. It is recorded that on one trip from + Montgomery to Mobile and return, a distance of 360 miles, the railroad + which is now the Louisville and Nashville collected only thirteen dollars + in fares. + </p> + <p> + Had there been unrestricted commercial freedom in the South in 1865-66, + the distress of the people would have been somewhat lessened, for here and + there were to be found public and private stores of cotton, tobacco, rice, + and other farm products, all of which were bringing high prices in the + market. But for several months the operation of wartime laws and + regulations hindered the distribution of even these scanty stores. + Property upon which the Confederate Government had a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_008" id="Page_008">8</a></span> + claim was of course subject to confiscation, and private property offered + for sale, even that of Unionists, was subject to a 25 per cent tax on + sales, a shipping tax, and a revenue tax. The revenue tax on cotton, + ranging from two to three cents a pound during the three years after + the war, brought in over $68,000,000. This tax, with other Federal + revenues, yielded much more than the entire expenses of reconstruction + from 1865 to 1868 and of all relief measures for the South, both public + and private. After May, 1865, the 25 per cent tax was imposed only upon + the produce of slave labor. None of the war taxes, except that on + cotton, was levied upon the crops of 1866, but while these taxes lasted + they seriously impeded the resumption of trade. + </p> + <p> + Even these restrictions, however, might have been borne if only they had + been honestly applied. Unfortunately, some of the most spectacular frauds + ever perpetrated were carried through in connection with the attempt of + the United States Treasury Department to collect and sell the confiscable + property in the South. The property to be sold consisted of what had been + captured and seized by the army and the navy, of "abandoned" property, as + such was called whose owner + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_009" id="Page_009">9</a></span> + was absent in the Confederate service, and of property subject to seizure + under the confiscation acts of Congress. No captures were made after the + general surrender, and no further seizures of "abandoned" property were + made after Johnson's amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865. This left only + the "confiscable" property to be collected and sold. + </p> + <p> + For collection purposes the States of the South were divided into + districts, each under the supervision of an agent of the Treasury + Department, who received a commission of about 25 per cent. Cotton, + regarded as the root of the slavery evil, was singled out as the principal + object of confiscation. It was known that the Confederate Government had + owned in 1865 about 150,000 bales, but the records were defective and much + of it, with no clear indication of ownership, still remained with the + producers. Secretary Chase, foreseeing the difficulty of effecting a just + settlement, counseled against seizure, but his judgment was overruled. + Secretary McCulloch said of his agents: "I am sure I sent some honest + cotton agents South; but it sometimes seems doubtful whether any of them + remained honest very long." Some of the natives, even, became cotton + thieves. In a report made in 1866, McCulloch describes their methods: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_010" id="Page_010">10</a></span> + Contractors, anxious for gain, were sometimes guilty of bad faith and + peculation, and frequently took possession of cotton and delivered it + under contracts as captured or abandoned, when in fact it was not such, + and they had no right to touch it.… Residents and others in the + districts where these peculations were going on took advantage of the + unsettled condition of the country, and representing themselves as agents + of this department, went about robbing under such pretended authority, and + thus added to the difficulties of the situation by causing unjust + opprobrium and suspicion to rest upon officers engaged in the faithful + discharge of their duties. Agents, … frequently received or collected + property, and sent it forward which the law did not authorize them to + take.… Lawless men, singly and in organized bands, engaged in general + plunder; every species of intrigue and peculation and theft were resorted + to. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + These agents turned over to the United States about $34,000,000. About + 40,000 claimants were subsequently indemnified on the ground that the + property taken from them did not belong to the Confederate Government, but + many thousands of other claimants have been unable to prove that their + property was seized by government agents and hence have received nothing. + It is probable that the actual Confederate property was nearly all stolen + by the agents. One agent in Alabama sold an appointment as assistant for + $25,000, and a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_011" id="Page_011">11</a></span> + few months later both the assistant and the agent were + tried by a military court for stealing and were fined $90,000 and $250,000 + respectively in addition to being imprisoned. + </p> + <p> + Other property, including horses, mules, wagons, tobacco, rice, and sugar + which the natives claimed as their own, was seized. In some places the + agents even collected delinquent Confederate taxes. Much of the + confiscable property was not sold but was turned over to the Freedmen's + Bureau ¹ for its support. The total amount seized cannot be + satisfactorily ascertained. The Ku Klux minority report asserted that + 3,000,000 bales of cotton were taken, of which the United States received + only 114,000. It is certain that, owing to the deliberate destruction of + cotton by fire in 1864-65, this estimate was too high, but all the + testimony points to the fact that the frauds were stupendous. As a result + the United States Government did not succeed in obtaining the Confederate + property to which it had a claim, and the country itself was stripped of + necessities to a degree that left it not only destitute but outraged and + embittered. "Such practices," said Trowbridge, "had a pernicious effect, + engendering a contempt for the Government and a murderous + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_012" id="Page_012">12</a></span> + ill-will which too commonly vented itself upon soldiers and negroes." + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_01-1" name="footer_01-1"></a> +¹ See pp. 89 <i>et seq</i>.</p> +</div> + + <p> + The South faced the work of reconstruction not only with a shortage of + material and greatly hampered in the employment even of that but still + more with a shortage of men. The losses among the whites are usually + estimated at about half the military population, but since accurate + records are lacking the exact numbers cannot be ascertained. The best of + the civil leaders, as well as the prominent military leaders, had so + committed themselves to the support of the Confederacy as to be excluded + from participation in any reconstruction that might be attempted. The + business of reconstruction, therefore, fell of necessity to the + Confederate private soldiers, the lower officers, nonparticipants, and + lukewarm individuals who had not greatly compromised themselves. These + politically and physically uninjured survivors included also all the + "slackers" of the Confederacy. But though there were such physical and + moral losses on the part of those to whom fell the direction of affairs + there was also a moral strengthening in the sound element of the people + who had been tried by the discipline of war. + </p> + <p> + The greatest weakness of both races was their + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_013" id="Page_013">13</a></span> + extreme poverty. The crops of 1865 turned out badly, for most of the + soldiers reached home too late for successful planting and the negro + labor was not dependable. The sale of such cotton and farm products as + had escaped the treasury agents was of some help, but curiously enough + much of the good money thus obtained was spent extravagantly by a people + used to Confederate rag money and for four years deprived of the luxuries + of life. The poorer whites who had lost all were close to starvation. In + the white counties which had sent so large a proportion of men to the + army the destitution was most acute. In many families the breadwinner + had been killed in war. After 1862 relief systems had been organized in + nearly all the Confederate States for the purpose of aiding the poor + whites, but these organizations were disbanded in 1865. A Freedmen's + Bureau official traveling through the desolate back country furnishes a + description which might have applied to two hundred counties, a third + of the South: "It is a common, an every-day sight in Randolph County, + that of women and children, most of whom were formerly in good + circumstances, begging for bread from door to door. Meat of any kind + has been a stranger to many of their mouths + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_014" id="Page_014">14</a></span> + for months. The drought cut off what little crops they hoped to save, + and they must have immediate help or perish. By far the greater + suffering exists among the whites. Their scanty supplies have been + exhausted, and now they look to the Government alone for support. + Some are without homes of any description." + </p> + <p> + Where the armies had passed, few of the people, white or black, remained; + most of them had been forced as "refugees" within the Union lines or into + the interior of the Confederacy. Now, along with the disbanded Confederate + soldiers, they came straggling back to their war-swept homes. It was + estimated, in December, 1865 that in the States of Alabama, Mississippi, + and Georgia, there were five hundred thousand white people who were + without the necessaries of life; numbers died from lack of food. Within a + few months relief agencies were at work. In the North, especially in the + border States and in New York, charitable organizations collected and + forwarded great quantities of supplies to the negroes and to the whites in + the hill and mountain counties. The reorganized state and local + governments sent food from the unravaged portions of the Black Belt to the + nearest white counties, and the army commanders gave some + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_015" id="Page_015">15</a></span> + aid. As soon as the Freedmen's Bureau was organized, it fed to the limit + of its supplies the needy whites as well as the blacks. + </p> + <p> + The extent of the relief afforded by the charity of the North and by the + agencies of the United States Government is not now generally remembered, + probably on account of the later objectionable activities of the + Freedmen's Bureau, but it was at the time properly appreciated. A Southern + journalist, writing of what he saw in Georgia, remarked that "it must be a + matter of gratitude as well as surprise for our people to see a Government + which was lately fighting us with fire and sword and shell, now generously + feeding our poor and distressed. In the immense crowds which throng the + distributing house, I notice the mothers and fathers, widows and orphans + of our soldiers.… Again, the Confederate soldier, with one leg or + one arm, the crippled, maimed, and broken, and the worn and destitute men, + who fought bravely their enemies then, their benefactors now, have their + sacks filled and are fed." + </p> + <p> + Acute distress continued until 1867; after that year there was no further + danger of starvation. Some of the poor whites, especially in the remote + districts, never again reached a comfortable standard + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_016" id="Page_016">16</a></span> + of living; some were demoralized by too much assistance; others were + discouraged and left the South for the West or the North. But the mass + of the people accepted the discipline of poverty and made the best of + their situation. + </p> + <p> + The difficulties, however, that beset even the courageous and the + competent were enormous. The general paralysis of industry, the breaking + up of society, and poverty on all sides bore especially hard on those who + had not previously been manual laborers. Physicians could get practice + enough but no fees; lawyers who had supported the Confederacy found it + difficult to get back into the reorganized courts because of the test + oaths and the competition of "loyal" attorneys; and for the teachers there + were few schools. We read of officers high in the Confederate service + selling to Federal soldiers the pies and cakes cooked by their wives, of + others selling fish and oysters which they themselves had caught, and of + men and women hitching themselves to plows when they had no horse or mule. + </p> + <p> + Such incidents must, from their nature, have been infrequent, but they + show to what straits some at least were reduced. Six years after the war, + James S. Pike, then in South Carolina, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_017" id="Page_017">17</a></span> + mentions cases which might be duplicated in nearly every old Southern + community: "In the vicinity," he says, "lived a gentleman whose income + when the war broke out was rated at $150,000 a year. Not a vestige of + his whole vast estate remains today. Not far distant were the estates + of a large proprietor and a well known family, rich and distinguished + for generations. The slaves were gone. The family is gone. A single + scion of the house remains, and he peddles tea by the pound and + molasses by the quart, on a corner of the old homestead, to the + former slaves of the family and thereby earns his livelihood." + </p> + <p> + General Lee's good example influenced many. Commercial enterprises were + willing to pay for the use of his name and reputation, but he wished to + farm and could get no opportunity. "They are offering my father + everything," his daughter said, "except the only thing he will accept, a + place to earn honest bread while engaged in some useful work." This remark + led to an offer of the presidency of Washington College, now Washington + and Lee University, which he accepted. "I have a self-imposed task which I + must accomplish," he said, "I have led the young men of the South in + battle; I have seen many of them fall under my + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_018" id="Page_018">18</a></span> + standard. I shall devote my life now to training young men to do their + duty in life." + </p> + <p> + The condition of honest folk was still further troubled by a general + spirit of lawlessness in many regions. Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and + Louisiana recognized the "Union" state government, but the coming of peace + brought legal anarchy to the other States of the Confederacy. The + Confederate state and local governments were abolished as the armies of + occupation spread over the South, and for a period of four or six months + there was no government except that exercised by the commanders of the + military garrisons left behind when the armies marched away. Even before + the surrender the local governments were unable to make their authority + respected, and soon after the war ended parts of the country became + infested with outlaws, pretend treasury agents, horse thieves, cattle + thieves, and deserters. Away from the military posts only lynch law could + cope with these elements of disorder. With the aid of the army in the + more settled regions, and by extra-legal means elsewhere, the outlaws, + thieves, cotton burners, and house burners were brought somewhat under + control even before the state governments were reorganized, though the + embers of lawlessness continued to smolder. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_019" id="Page_019">19</a></span> + The relations between the Federal soldiers stationed in the principal + towns and the native white population were not, on the whole, so bad as + might have been expected. If the commanding officer were well disposed, + there was little danger of friction, though sometimes his troops got out + of hand. The regulars had a better reputation than the volunteers. The + Confederate soldiers were surfeited with fighting, but the "stay-at-home" + element was often a cause of trouble. The problem of social relations + between the conquerors and the conquered was troublesome. The men might + get along well together, but the women would have nothing do with the + "Yankees" and ill feeling arose because of their antipathy. Carl Schurz + reported that "the soldier of the Union is looked upon as a stranger, an + intruder, as the 'Yankee,' the 'enemy.'… The existence and + intensity of this aversion is too well known to those who have served or + are serving in the South to require proof." + </p> + <p> + In retaliation the soldiers developed ingenious ways of annoying the + whites. Women, forced for any reason to go to headquarters, were made to + take the oath of allegiance or the "ironclad" oath before their requests + were granted; flags were fastened over doors, gates, or sidewalks in order + to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_020" id="Page_020">20</a></span> + irritate the recalcitrant dames and their daughters. Confederate songs + and color combinations were forbidden. In Richmond, General Halleck + ordered that no marriages be performed unless the bride, the groom, and + the officiating clergyman took the oath of allegiance. He explained this + as a measure taken to prevent "the propagation of legitimate rebels." + </p> + <p> + The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but + by May, 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms. In Tennessee the + State also imposed fines upon wearers of the uniform. In the vicinity of + military posts buttons and marks of rank were usually ordered removed and + the gray clothes dyed with some other color. General Lee, for example, + had the buttons on his coat covered with cloth. But frequently the + Federal commander, after issuing the orders, paid no more attention to + the matter and such conflicts as arose on account of the uniform were + usually caused by officious enlisted men and the negro troops. Whitelaw + Reid relates the following incident: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than the almost + painful effort of the rebels, from generals down to privates, to conduct + themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to bring no + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_021" id="Page_021">21</a></span> + severer punishment upon the city than it had already received. There was a + brutal scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with a pair of + tailor's shears, insisted on cutting the buttons from the uniform of an + elegant gray-headed old brigadier, who had just come in from Johnston's + army; but he bore himself modestly and very handsomely through it. His + staff was composed of fine-looking, stalwart fellows, evidently gentlemen, + who appeared intensely mortified at such treatment. They had no clothes + except their rebel uniforms, and had, as yet, had no time to procure + others, but they avoided disturbances and submitted to what they might, + with some propriety, and with the general approval of our officers, have + resented. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The negro troops, even at their best, were everywhere considered offensive + by the native whites. General Grant, indeed, urged that only white troops + be used to garrison the interior. But the negro soldier, impudent by + reason of his new freedom, his new uniform, and his new gun, was more than + Southern temper could tranquilly bear, and race conflicts were frequent. A + New Orleans newspaper thus states the Southern point of view: "Our + citizens who had been accustomed to meet and treat the negroes only as + respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked to encounter + them … wearing Federal uniforms and bearing bright muskets and gleaming + bayonets.… They + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_022" id="Page_022">22</a></span> + are jostled from the sidewalks by dusky guards, marching + four abreast. They were halted, in rude and sullen tones, by negro + sentinels." + </p> + <p> + The task of the Federal forces was not easy. The garrisons were not large + enough nor numerous enough to keep order in the absence of civil + government. The commanders in the South asked in vain for cavalry to + police the rural districts. Much of the disorder, violence, and + incendiarism attributed at the time to lawless soldiers appeared later to + be due to discharged soldiers and others pretending to be soldiers in + order to carry out schemes of robbery. The whites complained vigorously of + the garrisons, and petitions were sent to Washington from mass meetings + and from state legislatures asking for their removal. The higher + commanders, however, bore themselves well, and in a few fortunate cases + Southern whites were on most amicable terms with the garrison commanders. + The correspondence of responsible military officers in the South shows how + earnestly and considerately each, as a rule, tried to work out his task. + The good sense of most of the Federal officers appeared when, after the + murder of Lincoln, even General Grant for a brief space lost his head and + ordered the arrest of paroled Confederates. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_023" id="Page_023">23</a></span> + The church organizations were as much involved in the war and in the + reconstruction as were secular institutions. Before the war every + religious organization having members North and South, except the Catholic + Church and the Jews, had separated into independent Northern and Southern + bodies. In each section church feeling ran high, and when the war came + the churches supported the armies. As the Federal armies occupied Southern + territory, the church buildings of each denomination were turned over to + the corresponding Northern body, and Southern ministers were permitted to + remain only upon agreeing to conduct "loyal services, pray for the + President of the United States and for Federal victories" and to foster + "loyal sentiment." The Protestant Episcopal churches in Alabama were + closed from September to December, 1865, and some congregations were + dispersed by the soldiers because Bishop Wilmer had directed his clergy to + omit the prayer for President Davis but had substituted no other. The + ministers of non-liturgical churches were not so easily controlled. A + Georgia Methodist preacher directed by a Federal officer to pray for the + President said afterwards: "I prayed for the President that the Lord would + take out of him + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_024" id="Page_024">24</a></span> + and his allies the hearts of beasts and put into them the + hearts of men or remove the cusses from office." Sometimes members of a + congregation showed their resentment at the "loyal" prayers by leaving the + church. But in spite of many irritations both sides frequently managed to + get some amusement out of the "loyal" services. The church situation was, + however, a serious matter during and after the reconstruction, and some of + its later phases will have to be discussed elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + The Unionist, or "Tory," of the lower and eastern South found himself, in + 1865, a man without a country. Few in number in any community, they found + themselves upon their return from a harsh exile the victims of ostracism + or open hostility. One of them, William H. Smith, later Governor of + Alabama, testified that the Southern people "manifest the most perfect + contempt for a man who is known to be an unequivocal Union man; they call + him a 'galvanized Yankee' and apply other terms and epithets to him." + General George H. Thomas, speaking of a region more divided in sentiment + than Alabama, remarked that "Middle Tennessee is disturbed by animosities + and hatreds, much more than it is by the disloyalty of persons towards the + Government of the United States. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_025" id="Page_025">25</a></span> + Those personal animosities would break out and overawe the civil + authorities, but for the presence there of the troops of the United + States.… They are more unfriendly to Union men, natives of the + State of Tennessee, or of the South, who have been in the Union army, + than they are to men of Northern birth." + </p> + <p> + In the border States society was sharply divided and feeling was bitter. + In eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts of + Arkansas and Missouri returning Confederates met harsher treatment than + did the Unionists in the lower South. Trowbridge says of east Tennessee: + "Returning rebels were robbed; and if one had stolen unawares to his home, + it was not safe for him to remain there. I saw in Virginia one of these + exiles, who told me how homesickly he pined for the hills and meadows of + east Tennessee, which he thought the most delightful region in the world. + But there was a rope hanging from a tree for him there, and he dared not + go back. 'The bottom rails are on top,' said he, 'that is the trouble.' + The Union element, and the worst part of the Union element, was + uppermost." Confederates and Confederate sympathizers in Maryland, West + Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_026" id="Page_026">26</a></span> + were disfranchised. In West Virginia, + Tennessee, and Missouri, "war trespass" suits were brought against + returning Confederates for military acts done in war time. In Missouri and + West Virginia strict test oaths excluded Confederates from office, from + the polls, and from the professions of teaching, preaching, and law. On + the other hand in central and western Kentucky the predominant Unionist + population, themselves suffering through the abolition of slavery, and by + the objectionable operations of the Freedmen's Bureau and the unwise + military administration, showed more sympathy for the Confederates, + welcomed them home, and soon relieved them of all restrictions. + </p> + <p> + Still another element of discord was added by the Northerners who came to + exploit the South. Many mustered-out soldiers proposed to stay. + Speculators of all kinds followed the withdrawing Confederate lines and + with the conclusion of peace spread through the country; but they were not + cordially received. With the better class, the Southerners, especially the + soldiers, associated freely if seldom intimately. But the conduct of a few + of their number who considered that the war had opened all doors to them, + who very freely expressed their views, gave advice, condemned old + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_027" id="Page_027">27</a></span> + customs, and were generally offensive, did much to bring all Northerners + into disrepute. Tactlessly critical letters published in Northern papers + did not add to their popularity. The few Northern women felt the ostracism + more keenly than did the men. Benjamin C. Truman, an agent of President + Johnson, thus summed up the situation: "There is a prevalent disposition + not to associate too freely with Northern men or to receive them into the + circles of society; but it is far from unsurmountable. Over Southern + society, as over every other, woman reigns supreme, and they are more + embittered against those whom they deem the authors of all their + calamities than are their brothers, sons, and husbands." But of the + thousands of Northern men who overcame the reluctance of the Southerners + to social intercourse little was heard. Many a Southern planter secured a + Northern partner, or sold him half his plantation to get money to run the + other half. For the irritations of 1865 each party must take its share of + responsibility. + </p> + <p> + Had the South assisted in a skillful and adequate publicity, much + disastrous misunderstanding might have been avoided. The North knew as + little of the South as the South did of the North, but the North was eager + for news. Able newspaper + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_028" id="Page_028">28</a></span> + correspondents like Sidney Andrews of the Boston <i>Advertiser</i> and + the Chicago <i>Tribune</i>, who opposed President Johnson's policies, + Thomas W. Knox of the New York <i>Herald</i>, who had given General + Sherman so much trouble in Tennessee, Whitelaw Reid, who wrote for several + papers and tried cotton planting in Louisiana, and John T. Trowbridge, New + England author and journalist, were dispatched southwards. Chief of the + President's investigators was General Carl Schurz, German revolutionist, + Federal soldier, and soon to be radical Republican, who held harsh views + of the Southern people; and there were besides Harvey M. Watterson, + Kentucky Democrat and Unionist, the father of "Marse" Henry; Benjamin C. + Truman, New England journalist and soldier, whose long report was perhaps + the best of all; Chief Justice Chase, who was thinking mainly of "How soon + can the negro vote?"; and General Grant, who made a report so brief that, + notwithstanding its value, it attracted little attention. In addition, a + constant stream of information and misinformation was going northward from + treasury agents, officers of the army, the Freedmen's Bureau, teachers, + and missionaries. Among foreigners who described the conquered land were + Robert + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_029" id="Page_029">29</a></span> + Somers, Henry Latham, and William Hepworth Dixon. But few in the + South realized the importance of supplying the North with correct + information about actual conditions. The letters and reports, they + thought, humiliated them; inquiry was felt to be prying and gloating. + "Correspondents have added a new pang to surrender," it was said. The + South was proud and refused to be catechized. From the Northern point of + view the South, a new and strange region, with strange customs and + principles, was of course not to be considered as quite normal and + American, but there was on the part of many correspondents a determined + attempt to describe things as they were. And yet the North persisted in + its unsympathetic queries when it seemed to have a sufficient answer in + the reports of Grant, Schurz, and Truman. + </p> + <p> + Grant's opinion was short and direct: "I am satisfied that the mass of + thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in good + faith.… The citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return + to self-government within the Union as soon as possible." Truman came to + the conclusion that "the rank and file of the disbanded Southern army + … are the backbone and sinew of the South.… To the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_030" id="Page_030">30</a></span> + disbanded regiments of the rebel army, both officers and men, I look with + great confidence as the best and altogether the most hopeful element of + the South, the real basis of reconstruction and the material of worthy + citizenship." General John Tarbell, before the Joint Committee on + Reconstruction, testified that "there are, no doubt, disloyal and + disorderly persons in the South, but it is an entire mistake to apply + these terms to a whole people. I would as soon travel alone, unarmed, + through the South as through the North. The South I left is not at all + the South I hear and read about in the North. From the sentiment I hear + in the North, I would scarcely recognize the people I saw, and, except + their politics, I liked so well. I have entire faith that the better + classes are friendly to the negroes." + </p> + <p> + Carl Schurz on the other hand was not so favorably impressed. "The loyalty + of the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people," he said, + "consists in submission to necessity. There is, except in individual + instances, an entire absence of that national spirit which forms the basis + of true loyalty and patriotism." Another government official in Florida + was quite doubtful of the Southern whites. "I would pin them down at the + point + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_031" id="Page_031">31</a></span> + of the bayonet," he declared, "so close that they would not have room to + wiggle, and allow intelligent colored people to go up and vote in + preference to them. The only Union element in the South proper … + is among the colored people. The whites will treat you very kindly to + your face, but they are deceitful. I have often thought, and so expressed + myself, that there is so much deception among the people of the South + since the rebellion, that if an earthquake should open and swallow them + up, I was fearful that the devil would be dethroned and some of them + take his place." + </p> + <p> + The point of view of the Confederate military leaders was exhibited by + General Wade Hampton in a letter to President Johnson and by General Lee + in his advice to Governor Letcher of Virginia. General Hampton wrote: "The + South unequivocally 'accepts the situation' in which she is placed. + Everything that she has done has been done in perfect faith, and in the + true and highest sense of the word, she is loyal. By this I mean that she + intends to abide by the laws of the land honestly, to fulfill all her + obligations faithfully and to keep her word sacredly, and I assert that + the North has no right to demand more of her. You have no right to ask, or + expect that she will at once profess + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_032" id="Page_032">32</a></span> + unbounded love to that Union from which for four years she tried to + escape at the cost of her best blood and all her treasures." General Lee + in order to set an example applied through General Grant for a pardon + under the amnesty proclamation and soon afterwards he wrote to Governor + Letcher: "All should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects + of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if + possible, in the country; promote harmony and good-feeling; qualify + themselves to vote; and elect to the State and general legislatures wise + and patriotic men, who will devote their abilities to the interests of + the country and the healing of all dissensions; I have invariably + recommended this course since the cessation of hostilities, and have + endeavored to practice it myself." + </p> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="hampton.png" id="hampton.png"></a> +<img src="images/hampton.png" width="360" height="500" +alt="[Illustration: Wade Hampton]" +title="[Illustration: Wade Hampton]" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="#Illustrations">Wade Hampton.</a><br /> +Photograph by H. P. Cook, Richmond, Virginia.</span> + <hr /> +</div> + <p> + Southerners of the Confederacy everywhere, then, accepted the destruction + of slavery and the renunciation of state sovereignty; they welcomed an + early restoration of the Union, without any punishment of leaders of the + defeated cause. But they were proud of their Confederate records though + now legally "loyal" to the United States; they considered the negro as + free but inferior, and expected to be permitted to fix his status in the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_033" id="Page_033">33</a></span> + social organization and to solve the problem of free labor in their own + way. To embarrass the easy and permanent realization of these views there + was a society disrupted, economically prostrate, deprived of its natural + leaders, subjected to a control not always wisely conceived nor + effectively exercised, and, finally, containing within its own population + unassimilated elements which presented problems fraught with difficulty + and danger. + </p> + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_034" id="Page_034">34</a></span> + <a name="Chapter02" id="Chapter02"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER II.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">When Freedom Cried Out</p> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + negro is the central figure in the reconstruction of the South. + Without the negro there would have been no Civil War. Granting a war + fought for any other cause, the task of reconstruction would, without him, + have been comparatively simple. With him, however, reconstruction meant + more than the restoring of shattered resources; it meant the more or less + successful attempt to obtain and secure for the freedman civil and + political rights, and to improve his economic and social status. In 1861 + the American negro was everywhere an inferior, and most of his race were + slaves; in 1865 he was no longer a slave, but whether he was to be serf, + ward, or citizen was an unsettled problem; in 1868 he was in the South + the legal and political equal, frequently the superior, of the white; and + before the end of the reconstruction period he was made by the legislation + of some + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_035" id="Page_035">35</a></span> + States and by Congress the legal equal of the white even in + certain social matters. + </p> + <p> + The race problem which confronted the American people had no parallel in + the past. British and Spanish-American emancipation of slaves had affected + only small numbers or small regions, in which one race greatly outnumbered + the other. The results of these earlier emancipations of the negroes and + the difficulties of European states in dealing with subject white + populations were not such as to afford helpful example to American + statesmen. But since it was the actual situation in the Southern States + rather than the experience of other countries which shaped the policies + adopted during reconstruction, it is important to examine with some care + the conditions in which the negroes in the South found themselves at the + close of the war. + </p> + <p> + The negroes were not all helpless and without experience "when freedom + cried out." ¹ In the Border States and in the North there were, in 1861, + half a million free negroes accustomed to looking out for themselves. + Nearly 200,000 negro men were enlisted in the United States army between + 1862 and 1865, and many thousands of slaves had followed raiding Federal + forces to freedom or had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_036" id="Page_036">36</a></span> + escaped through the Confederate lines. State + emancipation in Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia, and Tennessee, and the + practical application of the Emancipation Proclamation where the Union + armies were in control ended slavery for many thousands more. Wherever the + armies marched, slavery ended. This was true even in Kentucky, where the + institution was not legally abolished until the adoption of the Thirteenth + Amendment. Altogether more than a million negroes were free and to some + extent habituated to freedom before May, 1865. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_02-1" name="footer_02-1"></a> +¹ A negro phrase much used in referring to emancipation.</p> +</div> + <p> + Most of these war-emancipated negroes were scattered along the borders of + the Confederacy, in camps, in colonies, in the towns, on refugee farms, at + work with the armies, or serving as soldiers in the ranks. There were + large working colonies along the Atlantic coast from Maryland to Florida. + The chief centers were near Norfolk, where General Butler was the first to + establish a "contraband" camp, in North Carolina, and on the Sea Islands + of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which had been seized by the + Federal fleet early in the war. To the Sea Islands also were sent, in + 1865, the hordes of negroes who had followed General Sherman out of + Georgia and South Carolina. Through + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_037" id="Page_037">37</a></span> + the Border States from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and along both + sides of the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, there + were other refugee camps, farms, and colonies. For periods varying + from one to four years these free negroes had been at work, often amid + conditions highly unfavorable to health, under the supervision of + officers of the Treasury Department or of the army. + </p> + <p> + Emancipation was therefore a gradual process, and most of the negroes, + through their widening experience on the plantations, with the armies, and + in the colonies, were better fitted for freedom in 1865 than they had been + in 1861. Even their years of bondage had done something for them, for they + knew how to work and they had adopted in part the language, habits, + religion, and morals of the whites. But slavery had not made them thrifty, + self-reliant, or educated. Frederick Douglass said of the negro at the end + of his servitude: "He had none of the conditions of self-preservation or + self-protection. He was free from the individual master, but he had + nothing but the dusty road under his feet. He was free from the old + quarter that once gave him shelter, but a slave to the rains of summer and + to the frosts of winter. He was turned loose, naked, hungry, and destitute + to the open sky." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_038" id="Page_038">38</a></span> + To prove that he was free the negro thought he must + leave his old master, change his name, quit work for a time, perhaps get a + new wife, and hang around the Federal soldiers in camp or garrison, or go + to the towns where the Freedmen's Bureau was in process of organization. + To the negroes who remained at home—and, curiously enough, for a + time at least many did so—the news of freedom was made known + somewhat ceremonially by the master or his representative. The negroes + were summoned to the "big house," told that they were free, and advised to + stay on for a share of the crop. The description by Mrs. Clayton, the wife + of a Southern general, will serve for many: "My husband said, 'I think it + best for me to inform our negroes of their freedom.' So he ordered all the + grown slaves to come to him, and told them they no longer belonged to him + as property, but were all free. 'You are not bound to remain with me any + longer, and I have a proposition to make to you. If any of you desire to + leave, I propose to furnish you with a conveyance to move you, and with + provisions for the balance of the year.' The universal answer was, + 'Master, we want to stay right here with you.' In many instances the + slaves were so infatuated with the idea of being, as they said, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_039" id="Page_039">39</a></span> + 'free as birds' that they left their homes and consequently suffered; + but our slaves were not so foolish." ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_02-2" name="footer_02-2"></a> +¹ <i>Black and White under the Old Régime</i>, p. 152,</p> +</div> + <p> + The negroes, however, had learned of their freedom before their old + masters returned from the war; they were aware that the issues of the war + involved in some way the question of their freedom or servitude, and + through the "grape vine telegraph," the news brought by the invading + soldiers, and the talk among the whites, they had long been kept fairly + well informed. What the idea of freedom meant to the negroes it is + difficult to say. Some thought that there would be no more work and that + all would be cared for by the Government; others believed that education + and opportunity were about to make them the equal of their masters. The + majority of them were too bewildered to appreciate anything except the + fact that they were free from enforced labor. + </p> + <p> + Conditions were most disturbed in the so-called "Black Belt," consisting + of about two hundred counties in the most fertile parts of the South, + where the plantation system was best developed and where by far the + majority of the negroes were segregated. The negroes in the four hundred + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_040" id="Page_040">40</a></span> + more remote and less fertile "white" counties, which had been less + disturbed by armies, were not so upset by freedom as those of the Black + Belt, for the garrisons and the larger towns, both centers of + demoralization, were in or near the Black Belt. But there was a moving to + and fro on the part of those who had escaped from the South or had been + captured during the war or carried into the interior of the South to + prevent capture. To those who left slavery and home to find freedom were + added those who had found freedom and were now trying to get back home or + to get away from the negro camps and colonies which were breaking up. A + stream of immigration which began to flow to the southwest affected + negroes as far as the Atlantic coast. In the confusion of moving, families + were broken up, and children, wife, or husband were often lost to one + another. The very old people and the young children were often left behind + for the former master to care for. Regiments of negro soldiers were + mustered out in every large town and their numbers were added to the + disorderly mass. Some of the Federal garrisons and Bureau stations were + almost overwhelmed by the numbers of blacks who settled down upon them + waiting for freedom to bestow its full measure + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_041" id="Page_041">41</a></span> + of blessing, and many of the negroes continued to remain in a + demoralized condition until the new year. + </p> + <p> + The first year of freedom was indeed a year of disease, suffering, and + death. Several partial censuses indicate that in 1865-66 the negro + population lost as many by disease as the whites had lost in war. Ill-fed, + crowded in cabins near the garrisons or entirely without shelter, and + unaccustomed to caring for their own health, the blacks who were searching + for freedom fell an easy prey to ordinary diseases and to epidemics. Poor + health conditions prevailed for several years longer. In 1870 Robert + Somers remarked that "the health of the whites has greatly improved since + the war, while the health of the negroes has declined till the mortality + of the colored population, greater than the mortality of the whites was + before the war, has now become so markedly greater, that nearly two + colored die for every white person out of equal numbers of each." + </p> + <p> + Morals and manners also suffered under the new dispensation. In the + crowded and disease-stricken towns and camps, the conditions under which + the roving negroes lived were no better for morals than for health, for + here there were none of the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_042" id="Page_042">42</a></span> + restraints to which the blacks had been + accustomed and which they now despised as being a part of their servitude. + But in spite of all the relief that could be given there was much want. In + fact, to restore former conditions the relief agencies frequently cut off + supplies in order to force the negroes back to work and to prevent others + from leaving the country for the towns. But the hungry freedmen turned to + the nearest food supply, and "spilin de gypshuns" (despoiling the + Egyptians, as the negroes called stealing from the whites) became an + approved means of support. Thefts of hogs, cattle, poultry, field crops, + and vegetables drove almost to desperation those whites who lived in the + vicinity of the negro camps. When the ex-slave felt obliged to go to town, + he was likely to take with him a team and wagon and his master's clothes + if he could get them. + </p> + <p> + The former good manners of the negro were now replaced by impudence and + distrust. There were advisers among the negro troops and other agitators + who assured them that politeness to whites was a mark of servitude. + Pushing and crowding in public places, on street cars and on the + sidewalks, and impudent speeches everywhere marked generally the limit of + rudeness. And the negroes were, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_043" id="Page_043">43</a></span> + in this respect, perhaps no worse than + those European immigrants who act upon the principle that bad manners are + a proof of independence. + </p> + <p> + The year following emancipation was one of religious excitement for large + numbers of the blacks. Before 1865 the negro church members were attached + to white congregations or were organized into missions, with nearly always + a white minister in charge and a black assistant. With the coming of + freedom the races very soon separated in religious matters. For this there + were two principal reasons: the negro preachers could exercise more + influence in independent churches; and new church organizations from the + North were seeking negro membership. Sometimes negro members were urged to + insist on the right "to sit together" with the whites. In a Richmond + church a negro from the street pushed his way to the communion altar and + knelt. There was a noticeable pause; then General Robert E. Lee went + forward and knelt beside the negro; and the congregation followed his + example. But this was a solitary instance. When the race issue was raised + by either color, the church membership usually divided. There was much + churchgoing by the negroes, day and night, and church festivities and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_044" id="Page_044">44</a></span> + baptisms were common. The blacks preferred immersion and wanted a new + baptism each time they changed to a new church. Baptizings in ponds, + creeks, or rivers were great occasions and were largely attended. + "Shouting" the candidates went into the water and "shouting" they came + out. One old woman came up screaming, "Freed from slavery! freed from sin! + Bless God and General Grant!" + </p> + <p> + In the effort to realize their new-found freedom, the negroes were heavily + handicapped by their extreme poverty and their ignorance. The total value + of free negro property ran up into the millions in 1860, but the majority + of the negroes had nothing. There were a few educated negroes in the + South, and more in the North and in Canada, but the mass of the race was + too densely ignorant to furnish its own leadership. The case, however, was + not hopeless; the negro was able to work and in large territories had + little competition; wages were high, even though paid in shares of the + crop; the cost of living was low; and land was cheap. Thousands seemed + thirsty for an education and crowded the schools which were available. It + was too much, however, to expect the negro to take immediate advantage of + his opportunities. What + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_045" id="Page_045">45</a></span> + he wanted was a long holiday, a gun and a dog, and + plenty of hunting and fishing. He must have Saturday at least for a trip + to town or to a picnic or a circus; he did not wish to be a servant. When + he had any money, swindlers reaped a harvest. They sold him worthless + finery, cheap guns, preparations to bleach the skin or straighten the + hair, and striped pegs which, when set up on the master's plantation, + would entitle the purchaser to "40 acres and a mule." + </p> + <p> + The attitude of the negroes' employers not infrequently complicated the + situation which they sought to better. The old masters were, as a rule, + skeptical of the value of free negro labor. Carl Schurz thought this + attitude boded ill for the future: "A belief, conviction, or prejudice, or + whatever you may call it," he said, "so widely spread and apparently + deeply rooted as this, that the negro will not work without physical + compulsion, is certainly calculated to have a very serious influence upon + the conduct of the people entertaining it. It naturally produced a desire + to preserve slavery in its original form as much and as long as + possible … or to introduce into the new system that element of physical + compulsion which would make the negro work." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_046" id="Page_046">46</a></span> + The negro wished to be free to leave his job when he pleased, but, + as Benjamin C. Truman stated in his report to President Johnson, a + "result of the settled belief in the negro's inferiority, and in the + necessity that he should not be left to himself without a guardian, + is that in some sections he is discouraged from leaving his old master. + I have known of planters who considered it an offence against + neighborhood courtesy for another to hire their old hands, and in two + instances that were reported the disputants came to blows over the + breach of etiquette." The new Freedmen's Bureau insisted upon written + contracts, except for day laborers, and this undoubtedly kept many negroes + from working regularly, for they were suspicious of contracts. Besides, + the agitators and the negro troops led them to hope for an eventual + distribution of property. An Alabama planter thus described the situation + in December, 1865: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + They will not work for anything but wages, and few are able to pay wages. + They are penniless but resolute in their demands. They expect to see all + the land divided out equally between them and their old masters in time to + make the next crop. One of the most intelligent black men I know told me + that in a neighboring village, where several hundred blacks were + congregated, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_047" id="Page_047">47</a></span> + he does not think that as many as three made contracts, + although planters are urgent in their solicitations and offering highest + prices for labor they can possibly afford to pay. The same man informed me + that the impression widely prevails that Congress is about to divide out + the lands, and that this impression is given out by Federal soldiers at + the nearest military station. It cannot be disguised that in spite of the + most earnest efforts of their old master to conciliate and satisfy them, + the estrangement between races increases in its extent and bitterness. + Nearly all the negro men are armed with repeaters, and many of them carry + them openly, day and night. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The relations between the races were better, however, than conditions + seemed to indicate. The whites of the Black Belt were better disposed + toward the negroes than were those of the white districts. It was in the + towns and villages that most of the race conflicts occurred. All whites + agreed that the negro was inferior, but there were many who were grateful + for his conduct during the war and who wished him well. But others, the + policemen of the towns, the "loyalists," those who had little but pride of + race and the vote to distinguish them from the blacks, felt no good will + toward the ex-slaves. It was Truman's opinion "not only that the planters + are far better friends to the negroes than the poor whites, but also + better + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_048" id="Page_048">48</a></span> + than a majority of the Northern men who go South to rent + plantations." John T. Trowbridge, the novelist, who recorded his + impressions of the South after a visit in 1865, was of the opinion that + the Unionists "do not like niggers." "For there is," he said, "more + prejudice against color among the middle and poorer classes—the + Union men of the South who owned few or no slaves—than among the + planters who owned them by scores and hundreds." The reports of the + Freedmen's Bureau are to the same effect. A Bureau agent in Tennessee + testified: "An old citizen, a Union man, said to me, said he, 'I tell you + what, if you take away the military from Tennessee, the buzzards can't eat + up the niggers as fast as we'll kill them.'" + </p> + <p> + The lawlessness of the negroes in parts of the Black Belt and the + disturbing influences of the black troops, of some officials of the + Bureau, and of some of the missionary teachers and preachers, caused the + whites to fear insurrections and to take measures for protection. Secret + semi-military organizations were formed which later developed into the Ku + Klux orders. When, however, New Year's Day, 1866 passed without the + hoped-for distribution of property the negroes began to settle down. + </p> + <p> + At the beginning of the period of reconstruction + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_049" id="Page_049">49</a></span> + it seemed possible that + the negro race might speedily fall into distinct economic groups, for + there were some who had property and many others who had the ability and + the opportunity to acquire it; but the later drawing of race lines and the + political disturbances of reconstruction checked this tendency. It was + expected also that the Northern planters who came South in large numbers + in 1865-66 might, by controlling the negro labor and by the use of more + efficient methods, aid in the economic upbuilding of the country. But they + were ignorant of agricultural matters and incapable of wisely controlling + the blacks; and they failed because at one time they placed too much trust + in the negroes and at another treated them too harshly and expected too + much of them. + </p> + <p> + The question of negro suffrage was not a live issue in the South until the + middle of 1866. There was almost no talk about it among the negroes; they + did not know what it was. President Lincoln in 1864 and President Johnson + in 1865 had merely mentioned the subject, though Chief Justice Chase and + prominent radical members of Congress, as well as numerous abolitionists, + had framed a negro suffrage platform. But the Southern whites, considering + the matter an impossibility, gave it + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_050" id="Page_050">50</a></span> + little consideration. There was, however, both North and South, a + tendency to see a connection between the freedom of the negroes and + their political rights and thus to confuse civil equality with political + and social privileges. But the great masses of the whites were solidly + opposed to the recognition of negro equality in any form. The poorer + whites, especially the "Unionists" who hoped to develop an opposition + party, were angered by any discussion of the subject. An Alabama + "Unionist," M. J. Saffold, later prominent as a radical politician, + declared to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction: "If you compel us to + carry through universal suffrage of colored men … it will prove + quite an incubus upon us in the organization of a national union party + of white men; it will furnish our opponents with a very effective weapon + of offense against us." + </p> + <p> + There were, however, some Southern leaders of ability and standing who, by + 1866, were willing to consider negro suffrage. These men, among them + General Wade Hampton of South Carolina and Governor Robert Patton of + Alabama, were of the slaveholding class, and they fully counted on being + able to control the negro's vote by methods similar to those actually put + in force a quarter of a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_051" id="Page_051">51</a></span> + century later. The negroes were not as yet politically organized, + were not even interested in politics, and the master class might + reasonably hope to regain control of them. Whitelaw Reid published + an interview with one of the Hamptons which describes the situation + exactly: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + A brother of General Wade Hampton, the South Carolina Hotspur, was on + board. He saw no great objection to negro suffrage, so far as the whites + were concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist though + he was, he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its effect on + the blacks themselves. Hitherto they had in the main, been modest and + respectful, and mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. But the + deference to them likely to be shown by partisans eager for their votes + would have a tendency to uplift them and unbalance them. Beyond this, no + harm would be done the South by negro suffrage. The old owners would cast + the votes of their people almost as absolutely and securely as they cast + their own. If Northern men expected in this way to build up a northern + party in the South, they were gravely mistaken. They would only be + multiplying the power of the old and natural leaders of Southern politics + by giving every vote to a former slave. Heretofore such men had served + their masters only in the fields; now they would do no less faithful + service at the polls. If the North could stand it, the South could. For + himself, he should make no special objection to negro suffrage as one of + the terms of reorganization, and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_052" id="Page_052">52</a></span> + if it came, he did not think the South + would have much cause to regret it. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + To sum up the situation at this time: the negro population at the close of + the war constituted a tremendous problem for those in authority. The race + was free, but without status, without leaders, without property, and + without education. Probably a fourth of them had some experience in + freedom before the Confederate armies surrendered, and the servitude of + the other three millions ended very quickly and without violence. But in + the Black Belt, where the bulk of the black population was to be found, + the labor system was broken up, and for several months the bewildered + freedmen wandered about or remained at home under conditions which were + bad for health, morals, and thrift. The Northern negroes did not furnish + the expected leadership for the race, and the more capable men in the + South showed a tendency to go North. The unsettled state of the negroes + and their expectation of receiving a part of the property of the whites + kept the latter uneasy and furnished the occasion of frequent conflicts. + Not the least of the unsettling influences at work upon the negro + population were the colored troops and the agitators furnished by the + Freedmen's Bureau, the missions, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_053" id="Page_053">53</a></span> + and the Bureau schools. But at the beginning of the year 1866 the + situation appeared to be clearing, and the social and economic + revolution seemed on the way to a quieter ending than might have + been expected. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_054" id="Page_054">54</a></span> + <a name="Chapter03" id="Chapter03"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER III.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Work of the Presidents</p> + + +<p class="noindent"><span class="first=word">The</span> + war ended slavery, but it left the problem of the freed slave; it + preserved the Union in theory, but it left unsolved many delicate problems + of readjustment. Were the seceded States in or out of the Union? If in the + Union, what rights had they? If they were not in the Union, what was their + status? What was the status of the Southern Unionist, of the + ex-Confederate? What punishments should be inflicted upon the Southern + people? What authority, executive or legislative, should carry out the + work of reconstruction? The end of the war brought with it, in spite of + much discussion, no clear answer to these perplexing questions. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, American political life, with its controversies over + colonial government, its conflicting interpretations of written + constitutions, and its legally trained statesmen, had by the middle of the + nineteenth century produced a habit + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_055" id="Page_055">55</a></span> + of political thought which demanded the settlement of most governmental + matters upon a theoretical basis. And now in 1865 each prominent leader + had his own plan of reconstruction fundamentally irreconcilable with all + the others, because rigidly theoretical. During the war the powers of + the Executive had been greatly expanded and a legislative reaction was + to be expected. The Constitution called for fresh interpretation in the + light of the Civil War and its results. + </p> + <p> + The first theory of reconstruction may be found in the Crittenden-Johnson + resolutions of July, 1861, which declared that the war was being waged to + maintain the Union under the Constitution and that it should cease when + these objects were obtained. This would have been subscribed to in 1861 by + the Union Democrats and by most of the Republicans, and in 1865 the + conquered Southerners would have been glad to reënter the Union upon + this basis; but though in 1865 the resolution still expressed the views of + many Democrats, the majority of Northern people had moved away from this + position. + </p> + <p> + The attitude of Lincoln, which in 1865 met the views of a majority of the + Northern people though not of the political leaders, was that "no State + can + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_056" id="Page_056">56</a></span> + upon its mere motion get out of the Union," that the States survived + though there might be some doubt about state governments, and that "loyal" + state organizations might be established by a population consisting + largely of ex-Confederates who had been pardoned by the President and made + "loyal" for the future by an oath of allegiance. Reconstruction was, + Lincoln thought, a matter for the Executive to handle. But that he was not + inflexibly committed to any one plan is indicated by his proclamation + after the pocket veto of the Wade-Davis Bill and by his last speech, in + which he declared that the question of whether the seceded States were in + the Union or out of it was "merely a pernicious abstraction." In addition, + Lincoln said: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + We are all agreed that the seceded States, so called, are out of their + proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the + government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to again get + them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only + possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even + considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than + with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial + whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts + necessary to restore the proper practical relations between these States + and the Union, and each + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_057" id="Page_057">57</a></span> + forever after innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the + acts he brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave + them proper assistance, they never having been out of it. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + President Johnson's position was essentially that of Lincoln, but his + attitude toward the working out of the several problems was different. He + maintained that the States survived and that it was the duty of the + Executive to restore them to their proper relations. "The true theory," + said he, "is that all pretended acts of secession were from the beginning + null and void. The States cannot commit treason nor screen individual + citizens who may have committed treason any more than they can make valid + treaties or engage in lawful commerce with any foreign power. The States + attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition where their vitality + was impaired, but not extinguished; their functions suspended, but not + destroyed." Lincoln would have had no severe punishments inflicted even on + leaders, but Johnson wanted to destroy the "slavocracy," root and branch. + Confiscation of estates would, he thought, be a proper measure. He said on + one occasion: "Traitors should take a back seat in the work of + restoration.… My judgment is that he [a rebel] + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_058" id="Page_058">58</a></span> + should be subjected to a severe ordeal before he is restored to + citizenship. Treason should be made odious, and traitors must be + punished and impoverished. Their great plantations must be seized, + and divided into small farms and sold to honest, industrious men." + The violence of Johnson's views subsequently underwent considerable + modification but to the last he held to the plan of executive + restoration based upon state perdurance. Neither Lincoln nor + Johnson favored a change of Southern institutions other than the + abolition of slavery, though each recommended a qualified negro suffrage. + </p> + <p> + There were, however, other theories in the field, notably those of the + radical Republican leaders. According to the state-suicide theory of + Charles Sumner, "any vote of secession or other act by which any State may + undertake to put an end to the supremacy of the Constitution within its + territory is inoperative and void against the Constitution, and when + sustained by force it becomes a practical <em>abdication</em> by the State + of all rights under the Constitution, while the treason it involves still + further works an instant <em>forfeiture</em> of all those functions and + powers essential to the continued existence of the State as a body + politic, so that from + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_059" id="Page_059">59</a></span> + that time forward the territory falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of + Congress as other territory, and the State, being according to the + language of the law <i>felo de se</i>, ceases to exist." Congress should + punish the "rebels" by abolishing slavery, by giving civil and political + rights to negroes, and by educating them with the whites. + </p> + <p> + Not essentially different, but harsher, was Thaddeus Stevens's plans for + treating the South as a conquered foreign province. Let the victors treat + the seceded States "as conquered provinces and settle them with new men + and exterminate or drive out the present rebels as exiles." Congress in + dealing with these provinces was not bound even by the Constitution, "a + bit of worthless parchment," but might legislate as it pleased in regard + to slavery, the ballot, and confiscation. With regard to the white + population he said: "I have never desired bloody punishments to any great + extent. But there are punishments quite as appalling, and longer + remembered, than death. They are more advisable, because they would reach + a greater number. Strip a proud nobility of their bloated estates; reduce + them to a level with plain republicans; send them forth to labor, and + teach their children to enter the workshops or handle a plow, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_060" id="Page_060">60</a></span> + and you will thus humble the proud traitors." Stevens and Sumner agreed + in reducing the Southern States to a territorial status. Sumner would + then take the principles of the Declaration of Independence as a guide + for Congress, while Stevens would leave Congress absolute. Neither + considered the Constitution as of any validity in this crisis. + </p> + + <p> + As a rule the former abolitionists were in 1865 advocates of votes and + lands for the negro, in whose capacity for self-rule they had complete + confidence. The view of Gerrit Smith may be regarded as typical of the + abolitionist position: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + Let the first condition of peace with them be that no people in the rebel + States shall ever lose or gain civil or political rights by reason of + their race or origin. The next condition of peace be that our black allies + in the South—those saviours of our nation—shall share with + their poor white neighbors in the subdivisions of the large landed estates + of the South. Let the only other condition be that the rebel masses shall + not, for say, a dozen years, be allowed access to the ballot-box, or be + eligible to office; and that the like restrictions be for life on their + political and military leaders.… The mass of the Southern blacks + fall, in point of intelligence, but little, if any, behind the mass of the + Southern whites.… In reference to the qualifications of the voter, + men make too much account of the head and too little of the heart. The + ballot-box, like God, says: "Give me your heart." + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_061" id="Page_061">61</a></span> + The best-hearted men are the best qualified to vote; and, in this light, + the blacks, with their characteristic gentleness, patience, and + affectionateness, are peculiarly entitled to vote. We cannot wonder at + Swedenborg's belief that the celestial people will be found in the + interior of Africa; nor hardly can we wonder at the legend that the + gods came down every year to sup with their favorite Africans. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + One of the most statesmanlike proposals was made by Governor John A. + Andrew of Massachusetts. If, forgetting their theories, the conservatives + could have united in support of a restoration conceived in his spirit, the + goal might have been speedily achieved. Andrew demanded a reorganization, + based upon acceptance of the results of the war, but carried through with + the aid of "those who are by their intelligence and character the natural + leaders of their people and who surely will lead them by and by." These + men cannot be kept out forever, said he, for + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + the capacity of leadership is a gift, not a device. They whose courage, + talents, and will entitle them to lead, will lead.… If we cannot + gain their support of the just measures needful for the work of safe + reorganization, reorganization will be delusive and full of danger. + They are the most hopeful subjects to deal with. They have the brain and + the experience and the education to enable them to understand … + the present situation. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_062" id="Page_062">62</a></span> + They have the courage as well as the skill to lead the people in the + direction their judgments point.… Is it consistent with reason + and our knowledge of human nature, to believe the masses of Southern men + able to face about, to turn their backs on those they have trusted and + followed, and to adopt the lead of those who have no magnetic hold on + their hearts or minds? It would be idle to reorganize by the colored vote. + If the popular vote of the white race is not to be had in favor of the + guarantees justly required, then I am in favor of holding on—just + where we are now. I am not in favor of a surrender of the present rights + of the Union to a struggle between a white minority aided by the freedmen + on one hand, against the majority of the white race on the other. I would + not consent, having rescued those states by arms from Secession and + rebellion, to turn them over to anarchy and chaos. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The Southerners, Unionists as well as Confederates, had their views as + well, but at Washington these carried little influence. The former + Confederates would naturally favor the plan which promised best for the + white South, and their views were most nearly met by those of President + Lincoln. Although he held that in principle a new Union had arisen out of + the war, as a matter of immediate political expediency he was prepared to + build on the assumption that the old Union still existed. The Southern + Unionists cared little for theories; they wanted the Confederates + punished, themselves + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_063" id="Page_063">63</a></span> + promoted to high offices, and the negro kept from the + ballot box. + </p> + <p> + Even at the beginning of 1866, it was not too much to hope that the + majority of former Republicans would accept conservative methods, provided + the so-called "fruits of the war" were assured—that is, equality of + civil rights, the guarantee of the United States war debt, the repudiation + of the Confederate debt, the temporary disfranchisement of the leading + Confederates, and some arrangement which would keep the South from + profiting by representation based on the non-voting negro population. But + amid many conflicting policies, none attained to continuous and compelling + authority. + </p> + <p> + The plan first put to trial was that of President Lincoln. It was a + definite plan designed to meet actual conditions and, had he lived, he + might have been able to carry it through successfully. Not a theorist, but + an opportunist of the highest type, sobered by years of responsibility in + war time, and fully understanding the precarious situation in 1865, + Lincoln was most anxious to secure an early restoration of solidarity with + as little friction as possible. Better than most Union leaders he + appreciated conditions in the South, the problem of the races, the + weakness of the Southern Unionists, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_064" id="Page_064">64</a></span> + and the advantage of calling in the old Southern leaders. He was generous + and considerate; he wanted no executions or imprisonments; he wished the + leaders to escape; and he was anxious that the mass of Southerners be + welcomed back without loss of rights. "There is," he declared, "too + little respect for their rights," an unwillingness, in short, to treat + them as fellow citizens. + </p> + <p> + This executive policy had been applied from the beginning of the war as + opportunity offered. The President used the army to hold the Border States + in the Union, to aid in "reorganizing" Unionist Virginia and in + establishing West Virginia. The army, used to preserve the Union might be + used also to restore disturbed parts of it to normal condition. Assuming + that the "States" still existed, "loyal" state governments were the first + necessity. By his proclamation of December 8, 1863, Lincoln suggested a + method of beginning the reconstruction: he would pardon any Confederate, + except specified classes of leaders, who took an oath of loyalty for the + future; if as many as ten per cent of the voting population of 1860, thus + made loyal, should establish a state government the Executive would + recognize it. The matter of slavery must, indeed, be left to the laws and + proclamations + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_065" id="Page_065">65</a></span> + as interpreted by the courts, but other institutions should + continue as in 1861. + </p> + <p> + This plan was inaugurated in four States which had been in part controlled + by the Federal army from nearly the beginning of the war: Tennessee + (1862), Louisiana (1862), Arkansas (1862), and Virginia after the + formation of West Virginia (1863). For each State, Lincoln appointed a + military governor: for Tennessee, Andrew Johnson; for Arkansas, John S. + Phelps; for Louisiana, General Shepley. In Virginia he recognized the + "reorganized" government, which had been transferred to Alexandria when + the new State of West Virginia was formed. The military governors + undertook the slow and difficult work of reorganization, however, with but + slight success owing to the small numbers of Unionists and of Confederates + who would take the oath. But by 1864 "ten per cent" state governments were + established in Arkansas and Louisiana, and progress was being made in + Tennessee. + </p> + <p> + Congress was impatient of Lincoln's claim to executive precedence in the + matter of reconstruction, and in 1864 both Houses passed the Wade-Davis + Bill, a plan which asserted the right of Congress to control + reconstruction and foreshadowed a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_066" id="Page_066">66</a></span> + radical settlement of the question. Lincoln disposed of the bill by a + pocket veto and, in a proclamation dated July 8, 1864, stated that he + was unprepared "to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of + restoration," or to discourage loyal citizens by setting aside the + governments already established in Louisiana and Arkansas, or to + recognize the authority of Congress to abolish slavery. He was ready, + however, to coöperate with the people of any State who wished to + accept the plan prepared by Congress and he hoped that a constitutional + amendment abolishing slavery would be adopted. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln early came to the conclusion that slavery must be destroyed, and + he had urgently advocated deportation of the freedmen, for he believed + that the two races could not live in harmony after emancipation. The + nearest he came to recommending the vote for the negro was in a + communication to Governor Hahn of Louisiana in March, 1864: "I barely + suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored + people may not be let in, as for instance, the very intelligent, and + especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would + probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_067" id="Page_067">67</a></span> + within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the + public, but to you alone." + </p> + <p> + Throughout the war President Lincoln assumed that the state organizations + in the South were illegal because disloyal and that new governments must + be established. But just at the close of the war, probably carried away by + feeling, he all but recognized the Virginia Confederate Government as + competent to bring the State back into the Union. While in Richmond on + April 5, 1865, he gave to Judge Campbell a statement of terms: the + national authority to be restored; no recession on slavery by the + Executive; hostile forces to disband. The next day he notified General + Weitzel, in command at Richmond, that he might permit the Virginia + Legislature to meet and withdraw military and other support from the + Confederacy. But these measures met strong opposition in Washington, + especially from Secretary Stanton and Senator Wade and other congressional + leaders, and on the 11th of April Lincoln withdrew his permission for the + Legislature to meet. "I cannot go forward," he said, "with everybody + opposed to me." It was on the same day that he made his last public + speech, and Sumner, who was strongly opposed to his policy, remarked that + "the President's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_068" id="Page_068">68</a></span> + speech and other things augur confusion and uncertainty + in the future, with hot contumacy." At a cabinet meeting on the 14th of + April, Lincoln made his last statement on the subject. It was fortunate, + he said, that Congress had adjourned, for "we shall reanimate the States" + before Congress meets; there should be no killing, no persecutions; there + was too much disposition to treat the Southern people "not as fellow + citizens." + </p> + <p> + The possibility of a conciliatory restoration ended when Lincoln was + assassinated. Moderate, firm, tactful, of great personal influence, not a + doctrinaire, and not a Southerner like Johnson, Lincoln might have + "prosecuted peace" successfully. His policy was very unlike that proposed + by the radical leaders. They would base the new governments upon the + loyalty of the past plus the aid of enfranchised slaves; he would + establish the new régime upon the loyalty of the future. Like + Governor Andrew he thought that restoration must be effected by the + willing efforts of the South. He would aid and guide but not force the + people. If the latter did not wish restoration, they might remain under + military rule. There should be no forced negro suffrage, no sweeping + disfranchisement of whites, no "carpetbaggism." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_069" id="Page_069">69</a></span> + The work of President Johnson demands for its proper understanding some + consideration of the condition of the political parties at the close of + the war, for politics had much to do with reconstruction. The Democratic + party, divided and defeated in the election of 1860, lost its Southern + members in 1861 by the secession and remained a minority party during the + remainder of the war. It retained its organization, however, and in 1864 + polled a large vote. Discredited by its policy of opposition to Lincoln's + Administration, its ablest leaders joined the Republicans in support of + the war. Until 1869 the party was poorly represented in Congress + although, as soon as hostilities ended, the War Democrats showed a + tendency to return to the old party. As to reconstruction, the party stood + on the Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of 1861, though most Democrats were + now willing to have slavery abolished. + </p> + <p> + The Republican party—frankly sectional and going into power on the + single issue of opposition to the extension of slavery—was forced by + the secession movement to take up the task of preserving the Union by war. + Consequently, the party developed new principles, welcomed the aid of the + War Democrats, and found it advisable to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_070" id="Page_070">70</a></span> + drop its name and with its allies to form the Union or National Union + party. It was this National Union party which in 1864 nominated Abraham + Lincoln, a Republican, and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, on the same ticket. + Lincoln's second Cabinet was composed of both Republicans and War + Democrats. When the war ended, the conservative leaders were anxious to + hold the Union party together in order to be in a better position to + settle the problems of reconstruction, but the movement of the War + Democrats back to their old party tended to leave in the Union party only + its Republican members, with the radical leaders dominating. + </p> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="johnson.jpg" id="johnson.jpg"></a> +<img src="images/johnson.jpg" width="480" height="420" +alt="[Illustration: Andrew Johnson]" +title="[Illustration: Andrew Johnson]" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="#Illustrations">Andrew Johnson.</a><br /> +Engraving after a Photograph by Brady.</span> + <hr /> +</div> + <p> + In the South the pressure of war so united the people that party divisions + disappeared for a time, but the causes of division continued to exist and + two parties, at least, would have developed had the pressure been removed. + Though all factions supported the war after it began, the former Whigs and + Douglas Democrats, when it was over, liked to remember that they had been + "Union" men in 1860 and expected to organize in opposition to the extreme + Democrats, who were now charged with being responsible for the misfortunes + of the South. They were in a position to affiliate with the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_071" id="Page_071">71</a></span> + National Union + party of the North if proper inducements were offered, while the regular + Democrats were ready to rejoin their old party. But the embittered + feelings resulting from the murder of Lincoln and the rapid development of + the struggle between President Johnson and Congress caused the radicals + "to lump the old Union Democrats and Whigs together with the secessionists—and + many were driven where they did not want to go, into temporary affiliation + with the Democratic party." Thousands went very reluctantly; the old + Whigs, indeed, were not firmly committed to the Democrats until radical + reconstruction had actually begun. Still other "loyalists" in the South + were prepared to join the Northern radicals in advocating the + disfranchisement of Confederates and in opposing the granting of suffrage + to the negroes. + </p> + <p> + The man upon whom fell the task of leading these opposing factions, + radical and conservative, along a definite line of action looking to + reunion had few qualifications for the task. Johnson was ill-educated, + narrow, and vindictive and was positive that those who did not agree with + him were dishonest. Himself a Southerner, picked up by the National Union + Convention of 1864, as Thaddeus Stevens said, from "one of those damned + rebel + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_072" id="Page_072">72</a></span> + provinces," he loved the Union, worshiped the Constitution, and held + to the strict construction views of the State Rights Democrats. Rising + from humble beginnings, he was animated by the most intense dislike of the + "slavocracy," as he called the political aristocracy of the South. Like + many other American leaders he was proud of his humble origin, but unlike + many others he never sloughed off his backwoods crudeness. He continually + boasted of himself and vilified the aristocrats, who in return treated him + badly. His dislike of them was so marked that Isham G. Harris, a rival + politician, remarked that "if Johnson were a snake, he would lie in the + grass to bite the heels of rich men's children." His primitive notions of + punishment were evident in 1865 when he advocated imprisonment, execution, + and confiscation; but like other reckless talkers he often said more than + he meant. + </p> + <p> + When Johnson succeeded to the presidency, the feeling was nearly universal + among the radicals, according to Julian, that he would prove a godsend to + the country, for "aside from Mr. Lincoln's known policy of tenderness to + the rebels, which now so jarred upon the feelings of the hour, his well + known views on the subject of reconstruction were as distasteful as + possible to radical Republicans." + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_073" id="Page_073">73</a></span> + Senator Wade declared to the President: + "Johnson, we have faith in you. By the gods, there will be no trouble now + in running the Government!" To which Johnson replied: "Treason is a crime + and crime must be punished. Treason must be made infamous and traitors + must be impoverished." These words are an index to the speeches of Johnson + during 1863-65. Even his radical friends feared that he would be too + vindictive. For a few weeks he was much inclined to the radical plans, and + some of the leaders certainly understood that he was in favor of negro + suffrage, the supreme test of radicalism. But when the excitement caused + by the assassination of Lincoln and the break-up of the Confederacy had + moderated somewhat, Johnson saw before him a task so great that his desire + for violent measures was chilled. He must disband the great armies and + bring all war work to an end; he must restore intercourse with the South, + which had been blockaded for years; he must for a time police the country, + look after the negroes, and set up a temporary civil government; and + finally he must work out a restoration of the Union. Sobered by + responsibility and by the influence of moderate advisers, he rather + quickly adopted Lincoln's policy. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_074" id="Page_074">74</a></span> + Johnson at first set his face against the movements toward reconstruction + by the state governments already organized and by those people who wished + to organize new governments on Lincoln's ten per cent plan. As soon as + possible the War Department notified the Union commanders to stop all + attempts at reconstruction and to pursue and arrest all Confederate + governors and other prominent civil leaders. The President was even + anxious to arrest the military leaders who had been paroled but was + checked in this desire by General Grant's firm protest. His cabinet + advisers supported Johnson in refusing to recognize the Southern state + governments; but three of them—Seward, Welles, and + McCulloch—were influential in moderating his zeal for inflicting + punishments. Nevertheless he soon had in prison the most prominent of the + Confederate civilians and several general officers. The soldiers, however, + were sent home, trade with the South was permitted, and the Freedmen's + Bureau was rapidly extended. + </p> + <p> + Previous to this Johnson had brought himself to recognize, early in May, + the Lincoln "ten per cent" governments of Louisiana, Tennessee, and + Arkansas, and the reconstructed Alexandria government of Virginia. Thus + only seven States were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_075" id="Page_075">75</a></span> + left without legal governments, and to bring those States back into the + Union, Johnson inaugurated on May 29, 1865, a plan which was like that + of Lincoln but not quite so liberal. In his Amnesty Proclamation, Johnson + made a longer list of exceptions aimed especially at the once wealthy + slave owners. On the same day he proclaimed the restoration of North + Carolina. A provisional governor, W. W. Holden, was appointed and + directed to reorganize the civil government and to call a constitutional + convention elected by those who had taken the amnesty oath. This + convention was to make necessary amendments to the constitution and + to "restore said State to its constitutional relations to the Federal + Government." It is to be noted that Johnson fixed the qualifications of + delegates and of those who elected them, but, this stage once passed, the + convention or the legislature would "prescribe the qualifications of + electors … a power the people of the several States composing the + Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the government + to the present time." The President also directed the various cabinet + officers to extend the work of their departments over the Confederate + States and ordered the army officers to assist the civil + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_076" id="Page_076">76</a></span> + authorities. During the next six weeks similar measures were undertaken + for the remaining six States of the Confederacy. + </p> + <p> + To set up the new order army officers were first sent into every county + to administer the amnesty oath and thus to secure a "loyal" electorate. In + each State the provisional governor organized out of the remains of the + Confederate local régime a new civil government. Confederate local + officials who could and would take the amnesty oath were directed to + resume office until relieved; the laws of 1861, except those relating to + slavery, were declared to be in force; the courts were directed to use + special efforts to crush lawlessness; and the old jury lists were + destroyed and new ones were drawn up containing only the names of those + who had taken the amnesty oath. Since there was no money in any state + treasury, small sums were now raised by license taxes. A full staff of + department heads was appointed, and by July, 1865, the provisional + governments were in fair working order. + </p> + <p> + To the constitutional conventions, which met in the fall, it was made + clear, through the governors, that the President would insist upon three + conditions: the formal abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the + ordinance of secession, and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_077" id="Page_077">77</a></span> + the repudiation of the Confederate war debt. + To Governor Holden he telegraphed: "Every dollar of the debt created to + aid the rebellion against the United States should be repudiated finally + and forever. The great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a + debt to aid in carrying on a rebellion which they in fact, if left to + themselves, were opposed to. Let those who had given their means for the + obligations of the state look to that power they tried to establish in + violation of law, constitution, and will of the people. They must meet + their fate." With little opposition these conditions were fulfilled, + though there was a strong feeling against the repudiation of the debt, + much discussion as to whether the ordinance of secession should be + "repealed" or declared "now and always null and void," and some quibbling + as to whether slavery was being destroyed by state action or had already + been destroyed by war. + </p> + <p> + In the old state constitutions, very slight changes were made. Of these + the chief were concerned with the abolition of slavery and the arrangement + of representation and direct taxation on the basis of white population. + Little effort was made to settle any of the negro problems, and in all + States the conventions left it to the legislatures to make + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_078" id="Page_078">78</a></span> + laws for the freedmen. There was no discussion of negro suffrage in the + conventions, but President Johnson sent what was for him a remarkable + communication to Governor Sharkey of Mississippi: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who + can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write their + names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less + than two hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, you would + completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other States will + follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you would thus place + Southern States in reference to free persons of color upon the same basis + with the free States.… And as a consequence the radicals, who are + wild upon negro franchise, will be completely foiled in their attempts to + keep the Southern States from renewing their relations to the Union by not + accepting their senators and representatives. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + In deciding upon a basis of representation it was clear that the majority + of delegates desired to lessen the influence of the Black Belt and place + the control of the government with the "up country." In the Alabama + convention Robert M. Patton, then a delegate and later governor, frankly + avowed this object, and in South Carolina Governor Perry urged the + convention to give no consideration to negro suffrage, "because this is a + white man's + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_079" id="Page_079">79</a></span> + government," and if the negroes should vote they would be + controlled by a few whites. A kindly disposition toward the negroes was + general except on the part of extreme Unionists, who opposed any favors to + the race. "This is a white man's country" was a doctrine to which all the + conventions subscribed. + </p> + <p> + The conventions held brief sessions, completed their work, and adjourned, + after directing that elections be held for state and local officers and + for members of Congress. Before December the appointed local officials had + been succeeded by elected officers; members of Congress were on their way + to Washington; the state legislatures were assembling or already in + session; and the elected governors were ready to take office. It was + understood that as soon as enough state legislatures ratified the + Thirteenth Amendment to make it a part of the Constitution, the President + would permit the transfer of authority to the new governors. The + Legislature of Mississippi alone was recalcitrant about the amendment, and + before January, 1866, the elected officials were everywhere installed + except in Texas, where the work was not completed until March. When + Congress met in December, 1865, the President reported that all former + Confederate States except Texas were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_080" id="Page_080">80</a></span> + ready to be readmitted. Congress, however, refused to admit their + senators and representatives, and thus began the struggle which ended + over a year later with the victory of the radicals and the undoing of + the work of the two Presidents. + </p> + <p> + The plan of the Presidents was at best only imperfectly realized. It was + found impossible to reorganize the Federal Administration in the South + with men who could subscribe to the "ironclad oath," for nearly all who + were competent to hold office had favored or aided the Confederacy. It was + two years before more than a third of the post offices could be opened. + The other Federal departments were in similar difficulties, and at last + women and "carpetbaggers" were appointed. The Freedmen's Bureau, which had + been established coincidently with the provisional governments, assumed + jurisdiction over the negroes, while the army authorities very early took + the position that any man who claimed to be a Unionist should not be tried + in the local courts but must be given a better chance in a provost court. + Thus a third or more of the population was withdrawn from the control of + the state government. In several States the head of the Bureau made + arrangements for local magistrates and officials to act as + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_081" id="Page_081">81</a></span> + Bureau officials, and in such cases the two authorities acted in + coöperation. The army of occupation, too, exerted an authority which + not infrequently interfered with the workings of the new state government. + Nearly everywhere there was a lack of certainty and efficiency due to the + concurrent and sometimes conflicting jurisdictions of state government, + army commanders, Bureau authorities, and even the President acting upon or + through any of the others. + </p> + <p> + The standing of the Southern state organizations was in doubt after the + refusal of Congress to recognize them. Nevertheless, in spite of this + uncertainty they continued to function as States during the year of + controversy which followed; the courts were opened and steadily grew in + influence; here and there militia and patrols were reorganized; officials + who refused to "accept the situation" were dismissed; elections were held; + the legislatures revised the laws to fit new conditions and enacted new + laws for the emancipated blacks. To all this progress in reorganization + the action of Congress was a severe blow, since it gave notice that none + of the problems of reconstruction were yet solved. An increasing spirit of + irritation and independence was observed throughout the States in + question, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_082" id="Page_082">82</a></span> + and at the elections the former Confederates gained more and + more offices. The year was marked in the South by the tendency toward the + formation of parties, by the development of the "Southern outrages" issue, + by an attempt to frustrate radical action, and finally by a line-up of the + great mass of the whites in opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment and + other radical plans of Congress. + </p> + <p> + The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, appointed when Congress refused to + accept the work of President Johnson, proceeded during several months to + take testimony and to consider measures. The testimony, which was taken + chiefly to support opinions already formed, appeared to prove that the + negroes and the Unionists were so badly treated that the Freedmen's Bureau + and the army must be kept in the South to protect them; that free negro + labor was a success but that the whites were hostile to it; that the + whites were disloyal and would, if given control of the Southern + governments and admitted to Congress, constitute a danger to the nation + and especially to the party in power. + </p> + <p> + To convince the voters of the North of the necessity of dealing + drastically with the South a campaign of misrepresentation was begun in + the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_083" id="Page_083">83</a></span> + summer of 1865, which became more and more systematic and unscrupulous + as the political struggle at Washington grew fiercer. Newspapers regularly + ran columns headed "Southern Outrages" and every conceivable mistreatment + of blacks by whites was represented as taking place on a large scale. As + General Richard Taylor said, it would seem that about 1866 every white + man, woman, and child in the South began killing and maltreating negroes. + In truth, there was less and less ground for objection to the treatment of + the blacks as time went on and as the several agencies of government + secured firmer control over the lawless elements. But fortunately for the + radicals their contention seemed to be established by riots on a large + scale in Memphis and New Orleans where negroes were killed and injured in + much greater number than whites. + </p> + <p> + The rapid development of the radical plans of Congress checked the + tendency toward political division in the South. Only a small party of + rabid Unionists would now affiliate with the radicals, while all the + others reluctantly held together, endorsed Johnson's policy, and attempted + to affiliate with the disintegrating National Union party. But the defeat + of the President's policies in the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_084" id="Page_084">84</a></span> + elections of 1866, the increasing radicalism of Congress as shown by the + Civil Rights Act, the expansion of the Freedmen's Bureau, the report of + the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, and the proposal of the Fourteenth + Amendment led farsighted Southerners to see that the President was likely + to lose in his fight with Congress. + </p> + <p> + Now began, in the latter half of 1866, with some coöperation in the + North and probably with the approval of the President, a movement in the + South to forestall the radicals by means of a settlement which, although + less severe than the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, might yet be + acceptable to Congress. One feature of the settlement was to be some form + of negro suffrage, either by local action or by constitutional amendment. + Those behind this scheme were mainly of the former governing class. Negro + suffrage, they thought, would take the wind out of the radical sails, the + Southern whites would soon be able to control the blacks, representation + in Congress would be increased, and the Black Belt would perhaps regain + its former political hegemony. It is hardly necessary to say that the + majority of the whites were solidly opposed to such a measure. But it was + hoped to carry it under pressure through the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_085" id="Page_085">85</a></span> + Legislature or to bring it about indirectly through rulings of the + Freedmen's Bureau. + </p> + <p> + Coincident with this scheme of partial negro suffrage an attempt was made + by the conservative leaders in Washington, working with the Southerners, + to propose a revised Fourteenth Amendment which would give the vote to + competent negroes and not disfranchise the whites. A conference of + Southern governors met in Washington early in 1867 and drafted such an + amendment. But it was too late. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the Fourteenth Amendment submitted by Congress had been brought + before the Southern legislatures and during the winter of 1866-67 it was + rejected by all of them. There was strong opposition to it because it + disfranchised the leading whites, but perhaps the principal reason for its + rejection was that the Southern people were not sure that still more + severe conditions might not be imposed later. + </p> + <p> + While the President was "restoring" the States which had seceded and + struggling with Congress, the Border States of the South, including + Tennessee (which was admitted in 1866 by reason of its radical state + government), were also in the throes of reconstruction. Though there was + less military + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_086" id="Page_086">86</a></span> + interference in these than in the other States, many of the + problems were similar. All had the Freedmen's Bureau, the negro race, the + Unionists, and the Confederates; in every State, except Kentucky, + Confederates were persecuted, the minority was in control, and "ring" rule + was the order of the day; but in each State there were signs of the + political revolution which a few years later was to put the radicals out + of power. + </p> + <p> + The executive plan for the restoration of the Union, begun by Lincoln and + adopted by Johnson, was, as we have seen, at first applied in all the + States which had seceded. A military governor was appointed in each State + by the President by virtue of his authority as commander in chief. This + official, aided by a civilian staff of his own choice and supported by the + United States army and other Federal agencies, reorganized the state + administration and after a few months turned the state and local + governments over to regularly elected officials. Restoration should now + have been completed, but Congress refused to admit the senators and + representatives of these States, and entered upon a fifteen months' + struggle with the President over details of the methods of the + reconstruction. Meanwhile the Southern States, though unrepresented in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_087" id="Page_087">87</a></span> + Congress, continued their activities, with some interference from Federal + authorities, until Congress in 1867 declared their governments + non-existent. + </p> + <p> + The work begun by Lincoln and Johnson deserved better success. The + original plan restored to political rights only a small number of + Unionists, the lukewarm Confederates, and the unimportant. But in spite of + the threatening speeches of Johnson he used his power of pardon until + none except the most prominent leaders were excluded. The personnel of the + Johnson governments was fair. The officials were, in the main, former + Douglas Democrats and Whigs, respectable and conservative, but not admired + or loved by the people. The conventions and the legislatures were orderly + and dignified and manifested a desire to accept the situation. + </p> + <p> + There were no political parties at first, but material for several + existed. If things had been allowed to take their course there would have + arisen a normal cleavage between former Whigs and Democrats, between the + up-country and the low country, between the slaveholders and the + nonslaveholders. The average white man in these governments was willing to + be fair to the negro but was not greatly concerned about his future. In + the view of most white people it was the white + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_088" id="Page_088">88</a></span> + man who was emancipated. The white districts had no desire to let the + power return to the Black Belt by giving the negro the ballot, for the + vote of the negroes, they believed, would be controlled by their former + masters. + </p> + <p> + Johnson's adoption of Lincoln's plan gave notice to all that the radicals + had failed to control him. He and they had little in common; they wished + to uproot a civilization, while he wished to punish individuals; they were + not troubled by constitutional scruples, while he was the strictest of + State Rights Democrats; they thought principally of the negro and his + potentialities, while Johnson was thinking of the emancipated white man. + It is possible that Lincoln might have succeeded, but for Johnson the task + proved too great. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_089" id="Page_089">89</a></span> + <a name="Chapter04" id="Chapter04"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER IV.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Wards of the Nation</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + negroes at the close of the war were not slaves or serfs, nor were + they citizens. What was to be done with them and for them? The Southern + answer to this question may be found in the so-called "Black Laws," which + were enacted by the state governments set up by President Johnson. The + views of the dominant North may be discerned in part in the organization + and administration of the Freedmen's Bureau. The two sections saw the same + problem from different angles and their proposed solutions were of + necessity opposed in principle and in practice. + </p> + <p> + The South desired to fit the emancipated negro race into the new social + order by frankly recognizing his inferiority to the whites. In some things + racial separation was unavoidable. New legislation consequently must be + enacted, because the slave codes were obsolete; because the old laws + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_090" id="Page_090">90</a></span> + made for the small free negro class did not meet present conditions; and + because the emancipated blacks could not be brought conveniently and at + once under laws originally devised for a white population. The new laws + must meet many needs; family life, morals, and conduct must be regulated; + the former slave must be given a status in court in order that he might be + protected in person and property; the old, the infirm, and the orphans + must be cared for; the white race must be protected from lawless blacks + and the blacks from unscrupulous and violent whites; the negro must have + an opportunity for education; and the roving blacks must be forced to get + homes, settle down, and go to work. + </p> + <p> + Pending such legislation the affairs of the negro remained in control of + the unpopular Freedmen's Bureau—a "system of espionage," as Judge + Clayton of Alabama called it, and, according to Governor Humphreys of + Mississippi, "a hideous curse" under which white men were persecuted and + pillaged. Judge Memminger of South Carolina, in a letter to President + Johnson, emphasized the fact that the whites of England and the United + States gained civil and political rights through centuries of slow + advancement and that they were far ahead + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_091" id="Page_091">91</a></span> + of the people of European states. Consequently, it would be a mistake to + give the freedmen a status equal to that of the most advanced whites. + Rather, let the United States profit by the experience of the British in + their emancipation policies and arrange a system of apprenticeship for a + period of transition. When the negro should be fit, let him be advanced + to citizenship. + </p> + <p> + Most Southern leaders agreed that the removal of the master's protection + was a real loss to the negro which must be made good to some extent by + giving the negro a status in court and by accepting negro testimony in all + cases in which blacks were concerned. The North Carolina committee on laws + for freedmen agreed with objectors that "there are comparatively few of + the slaves lately freed who are honest" and truthful, but maintained that + the negroes were capable of improvement. The chief executives of + Mississippi and Florida declared that there was no danger to the whites in + admitting the more or less unreliable negro testimony, for the courts and + juries would in every case arrive at a proper valuation of it. Governors + Marvin of Florida and Humphreys of Mississippi advocated practical civil + equality, while in North Carolina and several other States there was a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_092" id="Page_092">92</a></span> + disposition to admit negro testimony only in cases in which negroes were + concerned. The North Carolina committee recommended the abolition of + whipping as a punishment unfit for free people, and most States accepted + this principle. Even in 1865 the general disposition was to make uniform + laws for both races, except in regard to violation of contracts, immoral + conduct, vagrancy, marriage, schools, and forms of punishment. In some of + these matters the whites were to be more strictly regulated; in others, + the negroes. + </p> + <p> + There was further general agreement that in economic relations both races + must be protected, each from the other; but it is plain that the leaders + believed that the negro had less at stake than the white. The negro was + disposed to be indolent; he knew little of the obligations of contracts; + he was not honest; and he would leave his job at will. Consequently + Memminger recommended apprenticeship for all negroes; Governor Marvin + suggested it for children alone; and others wished it provided for orphans + only. Further, the laws enacted must force the negroes to settle down, to + work, and to hold to contracts. Memminger showed that, without legislation + to enforce contracts and to secure eviction of those who refused + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_093" id="Page_093">93</a></span> + to work, the white planter in the South was wholly at the mercy of the + negro. The plantations were scattered, the laborers' houses were already + occupied, and there was no labor market to which a planter could go if + the laborers deserted his fields. + </p> + <p> + What would the negro become if these leaders of reconstruction were to + have their way? Something better than a serf, something less than a + citizen—a second degree citizen, perhaps, with legal rights about + equal to those of white women and children. Governor Marvin hoped to make + of the race a good agricultural peasantry; his successor was anxious that + the blacks should be preferred to European immigrants; others agreed with + Memminger that after training and education he might be advanced to full + citizenship. + </p> + <p> + These opinions are representative of those held by the men who, Memminger + excepted, were placed in charge of affairs by President Johnson and who + were not specially in sympathy with the negroes or with the planters but + rather with the average white. All believed that emancipation was a + mistake, but all agreed that "it is not the negro's fault" and gave no + evidence of a disposition to perpetuate slavery under another name. + </p> + <p> + The legislation finally framed showed in its + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_094" id="Page_094">94</a></span> + discriminatory features the combined influence of the old laws for free + negroes, the vagrancy laws of North and South for whites, the customs of + slavery times, the British West Indies legislation for ex-slaves, and the + regulations of the United States War and Treasury Departments and of the + Freedmen's Bureau—all modified and elaborated by the Southern + whites. In only two States, Mississippi and South Carolina, did the + legislation bulk large in quantity; in other States discriminating laws + were few; in still other States none were passed except those defining + race and prohibiting intermarriage. + </p> + <p> + In all of the state laws there were certain common characteristics, among + which were the following: the descendant of a negro was to be classed as a + negro through the third generation, ¹ even though one parent in each + generation was white; intermarriage of the races was prohibited; existing + slave marriages were declared valid and for the future marriage was + generally made easier for the blacks than for the whites. In all States + the negro was given his day in court, and in cases relating to negroes his + testimony was accepted; in six States he might testify in any case. When + provision was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_095" id="Page_095">95</a></span> + made for schooling, the rule of race separation was enforced. In + Mississippi the "Jim Crow car," or separate car for negroes, was invented. + In several States the negro had to have a license to carry weapons, to + preach, or to engage in trade. In Mississippi, a negro could own land + only in town; in other States he could purchase land only in the + country. Why the difference, no one knows and probably few knew at the + time. Some of the legislation was undoubtedly hasty and ill-considered. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_04-1" name="footer_04-1"></a> +¹ Fourth in Tennessee.</p> +</div> + + <p> + But the laws relating to apprenticeship, vagrancy, and enforced punitive + employment turned out to be of greater practical importance. On these + subjects the legislation of Mississippi and South Carolina was the most + extreme. In Mississippi negro orphans were to be bound out, preferably to + a former master, if "he or she shall be a suitable person." The master was + given the usual control over apprentices and was bound by the usual + duties, including that of teaching the apprentice. But the penalties for + "enticing away" apprentices were severe. The South Carolina statute was + not essentially different. The vagrancy laws of these two States were in + the main the same for both races, but in Mississippi the definition of + vagrancy was enlarged to include negroes not at work, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_096" id="Page_096">96</a></span> + those "found unlawfully assembling themselves together," and "all white + persons assembling themselves with freedmen." It is to be noted that + nearly all punishment for petty offenses took the form of hiring out, + preferably to the former master or employer. The principal petty offenses + were, it would seem, vagrancy and "enticing away" laborers or apprentices. + The South Carolina statute contains some other interesting provisions. A + negro, man or woman, who had enjoyed the companionship of two or more + spouses, must by April 1, 1866, select one of them as a permanent partner; + a farm laborer must "rise at dawn," feed the animals, care for the + property, be quiet and orderly, and "retire at reasonable hours"; on + Sunday the servants must take turns in doing the necessary work, and they + must be respectful and civil to the "master and his family, guests, and + agents"; to engage in skilled labor the negro must obtain a license. + Whipping and the pillory were permitted in Florida for certain offenses, + and in South Carolina the master might "moderately correct" servants under + eighteen years of age. Other punishments were generally the same for both + races, except the hiring out for petty offenses. + </p> + <p> + From the Southern point of view none of this + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_097" id="Page_097">97</a></span> + legislation was regarded as a restriction of negro rights but as a wide + extension to the negro of rights never before possessed, an adaptation of + the white man's laws to his peculiar case. It is doubtful whether in some + of the States the authorities believed that there were any discriminatory + laws; they probably overlooked some of the free negro legislation already + on the statute books. In Alabama, for example, General Wager Swayne, the + head of the Freedmen's Bureau, reported that all such laws had either been + dropped by the legislature or had been vetoed by the governor. Yet the + statute books do show some discriminations. There is a marked difference + between earlier and later legislation. The more stringent laws were + enacted before the end of 1865. After New Year's Day had passed and the + negroes had begun to settle down, the legislatures either passed mild laws + or abandoned all special legislation for the negroes. Later in 1866, + several States repealed the legislation of 1865. + </p> + <p> + In so far as the "Black Laws" discriminated against the negro they were + never enforced but were suspended from the beginning by the army and the + Freedmen's Bureau. They had, however, a very important effect upon that + section of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_098" id="Page_098">98</a></span> + Northern opinion which was already suspicious of the good faith + of the Southerners. They were part of a plan, some believed, to + reënslave the negro or at least to create by law a class of serfs. + This belief did much to bring about later radical legislation. + </p> + <p> + If the "Black Laws" represented the reaction of the Southern legislatures + to racial conditions, the Freedmen's Bureau was the corresponding result + of the interest taken by the North in the welfare of the negro. It was + established just as the war was closing and arose out of the various + attempts to meet the negro problems that arose during the war. The Bureau + had always a dual nature, due in part to its inheritance of regulations, + precedents, and traditions from the various attempts made during war time + to handle the many thousands of negroes who came under Federal control, + and in part to the humanitarian impulses of 1865, born of a belief in the + capacity of the negro for freedom and a suspicion that the Southern whites + intended to keep as much of slavery as they could. The officials of the + Bureau likewise were of two classes: those in control were for the most + part army officers, standing as arbiters between white and black, usually + just and seldom the victims of their sympathies; but the mass of less + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_099" id="Page_099">99</a></span> + responsible officials were men of inferior ability and character, either + blind partisans of the negro or corrupt and subject to purchase by the + whites. + </p> + <p> + In view of the fact that the Freedmen's Bureau was considered a new + institution in 1865, it is rather remarkable how closely it followed in + organization, purpose, and methods the precedents set during the war by + the officers of the army and the Treasury. In Virginia, General Butler, in + 1861, declared escaped slaves to be "contraband" and proceeded to organize + them into communities for discipline, work, food, and care. His successors + in Virginia and North Carolina, and others in the Sea Islands of Georgia + and South Carolina, extended his plan and arranged a labor system with + fixed wages, hours, and methods of work, and everywhere made use of the + captured or abandoned property of the Confederates. In Tennessee and + Arkansas, Chaplain John Eaton of Grant's army employed thousands in a + modified free labor system; and further down in Mississippi and Louisiana + Generals Grant, Butler, and Banks also put large numbers of captured + slaves to work for themselves and for the Government. Everywhere, as the + numbers of negroes increased, the army commanders divided the occupied + negro regions into + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span> + districts under superintendents and other officials, + framed labor laws, coöperated with benevolent societies which gave + schooling and medical care to the blacks, and developed systems of + government for them. + </p> + <p> + The United States Treasury Department, attempting to execute the + confiscation laws for the benefit of the Treasury, appears now and then as + an employer of negro labor on abandoned plantations. Either alone or in + coöperation with the army and charitable associations, it even + supervised negro colonies, and sometimes it assumed practically complete + control of the economic welfare of the negro. This Department introduced + in 1864 an elaborate lessee and trade system. The negro was regarded as + "the ward of the nation," but he was told impressively that "labor is a + public duty and idleness and vagrancy a crime." All wanted him to work: + the Treasury wanted cotton and other crops to sell; the lessees and + speculators wanted to make fortunes by his labor; and the army wanted to + be free from the burden of the idle blacks. In spite of all these + ministrations the negroes suffered much from harsh treatment, neglect, and + unsanitary conditions. + </p> + <p> + During 1863 and 1864 several influences were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> + urging the establishment of a national bureau or department to take charge + of matters relating to the African race. Some wished to establish on the + borders of the South a paid labor system, which might later be extended + over the entire region, to get more slaves out of the Confederacy into + this free labor territory, and to prevent immigration of negroes into the + North, which, after the Emancipation Proclamation, was apprehensive of + this danger. Others wished to relieve the army and the treasury officials + of the burden of caring for the blacks and to protect the latter from the + "northern harpies and bloodhounds" who had fastened upon them the lessee + system. + </p> + <p> + The discussion lasted for two years. The Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, + after a survey of the field in 1863, recommended a consolidation of all + efforts under an organization which should perpetuate the best features of + the old system. But there was much opposition to this plan in Congress. + The negroes would be exploited, objected some; the scheme gave too much + power to the proposed organization, said others; another objection was + urged against the employment of a horde of incompetent and unscrupulous + officeholders, for "the men who go down there and become your overseers + and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> + negro drivers will be your brokendown politicians and your + dilapidated preachers, that description of men who are too lazy to work + and just a little too honest to steal." + </p> + <p> + As the war drew to a close the advocates of a policy of consolidation in + negro affairs prevailed, and on March 3, 1865, an act was approved + creating in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and + Abandoned Lands. This Bureau was to continue for one year after the close + of the war and it was to control all matters relating to freedmen and + refugees, that is, Unionists who had been driven out of the South. Food, + shelter, and clothing were to be given to the needy, and abandoned or + confiscated property was to be used for or leased to freedmen. At the head + of the Bureau was to be a commissioner with an assistant commissioner for + each of the Southern States. These officials and other employees must take + the "ironclad" oath. + </p> + <p> + It was planned that the Bureau should have a brief existence, but the + institution and its wards became such important factors in politics that + on July 16, 1866, after a struggle with the President, Congress passed an + act over his veto amplifying the powers of the Bureau and extending it for + two + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> + years longer. This continuation of the Bureau was due to many things: + to a belief that former slaveholders were not to be trusted in dealing + with the negroes; to the baneful effect of the "Black Laws" upon Northern + public opinion; to the struggle between the President and Congress over + reconstruction; and to the foresight of radical politicians who saw in the + institution an instrument for the political instruction of the blacks in + the proper doctrines. + </p> + <p> + The new law was supplementary to the Act of 1865, but its additional + provisions merely endorsed what the Bureau was already doing. It + authorized the issue of medical supplies, confirmed certain sales of land + to negroes, and provided that the promises which Sherman made in 1865 to + the Sea Island negroes should be carried out as far as possible and that + no lands occupied by blacks should be restored to the owners until the + crops of 1866 were gathered; it directed the Bureau to coöperate with + private charitable and benevolent associations, and it authorized the use + or sale for school purposes of all confiscated property; and finally it + ordered that the civil equality of the negro be upheld by the Bureau and + its courts when state courts refused to accept the principle. By + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> + later laws the existence of the Bureau was extended to January 1, 1869, + in the unreconstructed States, but its educational and financial + activities were continued until June 20, 1872. + </p> + <p> + The chief objections to the Bureau from the conservative Northern point of + view were summed up in the President's veto messages. The laws creating it + were based, he asserted, on the theory that a state of war still existed; + there was too great a concentration of power in the hands of a few + individuals who could not be held responsible; with such a large number of + agents ignorant of the country and often working for their own advantage + injustice would inevitably result; in spite of the fact that the negro + everywhere had a status in court, arbitrary tribunals were established, + without jury, without regular procedure or rules of evidence, and without + appeal; the provisions in regard to abandoned lands amounted to + confiscation without a hearing; the negro, who must in the end work out + his own salvation, and who was protected by the demand for his labor, + would be deluded into thinking his future secure without further effort on + his part; although nominally under the War Department, the Bureau was not + subject to military control; it was practically a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> + great political machine; and, finally, the States most concerned were not + represented in Congress. + </p> + <p> + The Bureau was soon organized in all the former slaveholding States except + Delaware, with general headquarters in Washington and state headquarters + at the various capitals. General O. O. Howard, who was appointed + commissioner, was a good officer, soft-hearted, honest, pious, and + frequently referred to as "the Christian soldier." He was fair-minded and + not disposed to irritate the Southern whites unnecessarily, but he was + rather suspicious of their intentions toward the negroes, and he was a + believer in the righteousness of the Freedmen's Bureau. He was not a good + business man; and he was not beyond the reach of politicians. At one time + he was seriously disturbed in his duties by the buzzing of the + presidential bee in his bonnet. The members of his staff were not of his + moral stature, and several of them were connected with commercial and + political enterprises which left their motives open to criticism. + </p> + <p> + The assistant commissioners were, as a rule, general officers of the army, + though a few were colonels and chaplains. ¹ Nearly half of them had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> + during the war been associated with the various attempts to handle the + negro problem, and it was these men who shaped the organization of the + Bureau. While few of them were immediately acceptable to the Southern + whites, only ten of them proved seriously objectionable on account of + personality, character, or politics. Among the most able should be + mentioned Generals Schofield, Swayne, Fullerton, Steedman, and Fessenden, + and Colonel John Eaton. The President had little or no control over the + appointment or discipline of the officials and agents of the Bureau, + except possibly by calling some of the higher army officers back to + military service. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_04-2" name="footer_04-2"></a> +¹ They numbered eleven at first and fourteen after July, + 1866, and were changed so often that fifty, in all, served + in this rank before January 1, 1869, when the Bureau was + practically discontinued.</p> +</div> + <p> + As a result of General Grant's severe criticism of the arrangement which + removed the Bureau from control by the military establishment, the + military commander was in a few instances also appointed assistant + commissioner. Each assistant commissioner was aided by a headquarters + staff and had under his jurisdiction in each State various district, + county, and local agents, with a special corps of school officials, who + were usually teachers and missionaries belonging to religious and + charitable societies. The local agents were recruited from the members of + the Veteran Reserve Corps, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> + the subordinate officers and non-commissioned + officers of the army, mustered-out soldiers, officers of negro troops, + preachers, teachers, and Northern civilians who had come South. As a class + these agents were not competent persons to guide the blacks in the ways of + liberty or to arbitrate differences between the races. There were many + exceptions, but the Southern view as expressed by General Wade Hampton had + only too much foundation: "There <em>may</em> be," he said, "an honest man + connected with the Bureau." John Minor Botts, a Virginian who had remained + loyal to the Union, asserted that many of the agents were good men who did + good work but that trouble resulted from the ignorance and fanaticism of + others. The minority members of the Ku Klux Committee condemned the agents + as being "generally of a class of fanatics without character or + responsibility." + </p> + <p> + The chief activities of the Bureau included the following five branches: + relief work for both races; the regulation of negro labor; the + administration of justice in cases concerning negroes; the management of + abandoned and confiscated property; and the support of schools for the + negroes. + </p> + <p> + The relief work which was carried on for more than four years consisted of + caring for sick negroes + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> + who were within reach of the hospitals, furnishing + food and sometimes clothing and shelter to destitute blacks and whites, + and transporting refugees of both races back to their homes. Nearly a + hundred hospitals and clinics were established, and half a million + patients were treated. This work was greatly needed, especially for the + old and the infirm, and it was well done. The transportation of refugees + did not reach large proportions, and after 1866 it was entangled in + politics. But the issue of supplies in huge quantities brought much needed + relief though at the same time a certain amount of demoralization. The + Bureau claimed little credit, and is usually given none, for keeping alive + during the fall and winter of 1865-1866 thousands of destitute whites. Yet + more than a third of the food issued was to whites, and without it many + would have starved. Numerous Confederate soldiers on the way home after + the surrender were fed by the Bureau, and in the destitute white districts + a great deal of suffering was relieved and prevented by its operations. + The negroes, dwelling for the most part in regions where labor was in + demand, needed relief for a shorter time, but they were attracted in + numbers to the towns by free food, and it was difficult to get them back + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> + to work. The political value of the free food issues was not generally + recognized until later in 1866 and in 1867. + </p> + <p> + During the first year of the Bureau an important duty of the agents was + the supervision of negro labor and the fixing of wages. Both officials and + planters generally demanded that contracts be written, approved, and filed + in the office of the Bureau. They thought that the negroes would work + better if they were thus bound by contracts. The agents usually required + that the agreements between employer and laborer cover such points as the + nature of the work, the hours, food and clothes, medical attendance, + shelter, and wages. To make wages secure, the laborer was given a lien on + the crop; to secure the planter from loss, unpaid wages might be forfeited + if the laborer failed to keep his part of the contract. When it dawned + upon the Bureau authorities that other systems of labor had been or might + be developed in the South, they permitted arrangements for the various + forms of cash and share renting. But it was everywhere forbidden to place + the negroes under "overseers" or to subject them to "unwilling + apprenticeship" and "compulsory working out of debts." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> + The written contract system for laborers did not work out successfully. + The negroes at first were expecting quite other fruits of freedom. One + Mississippi negro voiced what was doubtless the opinion of many when he + declared that he "considered no man free who had to work for a living." + Few negroes would contract for more than three months and none for a + period beyond January 1, 1866, when they expected a division of lands + among the ex-slaves. In spite of the regulations, most worked on oral + agreements. In 1866 nearly all employers threw overboard the written + contract system for labor and permitted oral agreements. Some States + had passed stringent laws for the enforcing of contracts, but in Alabama, + Governor Patton vetoed such legislation on the ground that it was not + needed. General Swayne, the Bureau chief for the State, endorsed the + Governor's action and stated that the negro was protected by his freedom + to leave when mistreated, and the planter, by the need on the part of + the negro for food and shelter. Negroes, he said, were afraid of + contracts and, besides, contracts led to litigation. + </p> + <p> + In order to safeguard the civil rights of the negroes the Bureau was + given authority to establish + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span> + courts of its own and to supervise the action of state courts in cases to + which freedmen were parties. The majority of the assistant commissioners + made no attempt to let the state courts handle negro cases but were + accustomed to bring all such cases before the Bureau or the provost courts + of the army. In Alabama, quite early, and later in North Carolina, + Mississippi, and Georgia, the wiser assistant commissioners arranged for + the state courts to handle freedmen's cases with the understanding that + discriminating laws were to be suspended. General Swayne in so doing + declared that he was "unwilling to establish throughout Alabama courts + conducted by persons foreign to her citizenship and strangers to her + laws." The Bureau courts were informal affairs, consisting usually of one + or two administrative officers. There were no jury, no appeal beyond the + assistant commissioner, no rules of procedure, and no accepted body of + law. In state courts accepted by the Bureau the proceedings in negro + cases were conducted in the same manner as for the whites. + </p> + <p> + The educational work of the Bureau was at first confined to + coöperation with such Northern religious and benevolent societies as + were organizing schools and churches for the negroes. After + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span> + the first year the Bureau extended financial aid and undertook a system + of supervision over negro schools. The teachers employed were Northern + whites and negroes in about equal numbers. Confiscated Confederate + property was devoted to negro education, and in several States the + assistant commissioners collected fees and percentages of the negroes' + wages for the benefit of the schools. In addition the Bureau expended + about six million dollars. + </p> + <p> + The intense dislike which the Southern whites manifested for the + Freedmen's Bureau was due in general to their resentment of outside + control of domestic affairs and in particular to unavoidable difficulties + inherent in the situation. Among the concrete causes of Southern hostility + was the attitude of some of the higher officials and many of the lower + ones toward the white people. They assumed that the whites were unwilling + to accord fair treatment to the blacks in the matter of wages, schools, + and justice. An official in Louisiana declared that the whites would + exterminate the negroes if the Bureau were removed. A few months later + General Fullerton in the same State reported that trouble was caused by + those agents who noisily demanded special privileges for the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> + negro but who objected to any penalties for his lawlessness and made of + the negroes a pampered class. General Tillson in Georgia predicted the + extinction of the "old time Southerner with his hate, cruelty, and + malice." General Fisk declared that "there are some of the meanest, + unsubjugated and unreconstructed rascally revolutionists in Kentucky that + curse the soil of the country … a more select number of vindictive, + pro-slavery, rebellious legislators cannot be found than a majority of the + Kentucky legislature." There was a disposition to lecture the whites about + their sins in regard to slavery and to point out to them how far in their + general ignorance and backwardness they fell short of enlightened people. + </p> + <p> + The Bureau courts were frequently conducted in an "illegal and oppressive + manner," with "decided partiality for the colored people, without regard + to justice." For this reason they were suspended for a time in Louisiana + and Georgia by General Steedman and General Fullerton, and cases were then + sent before military courts. Men of the highest character were dragged + before the Bureau tribunals upon frivolous complaints, were lectured, + abused, ridiculed, and arbitrarily fined or otherwise punished. The + jurisdiction of the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span> + Bureau courts weakened the civil courts and their frequent interference + in trivial matters was not conducive to a return to normal conditions. + </p> + <p> + The inferior agents, not sufficiently under the control of their + superiors, were responsible for a great deal of this bad feeling. Many of + them held radical opinions as to the relations of the races, and + inculcated these views in their courts, in the schools, and in the new + negro churches. Some were charged with even causing strikes and other + difficulties in order to be bought off by the whites. The tendency of + their work was to create in the negroes a pervasive distrust of the + whites. + </p> + <p> + The prevalent delusion in regard to an impending division of the lands + among the blacks had its origin in the operation of the war-time + confiscation laws, in some of the Bureau legislation, and in General + Sherman's Sea Island order, but it was further fostered by the agents + until most blacks firmly believed that each head of a family was to get + "40 acres and a mule." This belief seriously interfered with industry and + resulted also in widespread swindling by rascals who for years made a + practice of selling fraudulent deeds to land with red, white, and blue + sticks to mark off the bounds of a chosen spot on the former master's + plantation. The + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> + assistant commissioners labored hard to disabuse the minds + of the negroes, but their efforts were often neutralized by the + unscrupulous attitude of the agents. + </p> + <p> + As the contest over reconstruction developed in Washington, the officials + of the Bureau soon recognized the political possibilities of their + institution. After mid-year of 1866, the Bureau became a political machine + for the purpose of organizing the blacks into the Union League, where the + rank and file were taught that reënslavement would follow Democratic + victories. Nearly all of the Bureau agents aided in the administration of + the reconstruction acts in 1867 and in the organization of the new state + and local governments and became officials under the new régime. + They were the chief agents in capturing the solid negro vote for the + Republican party. + </p> + <hr class="break"/> + <p> + Neither of the two plans for guiding the freedmen into a place in the + social order—the "Black Laws" and the Freedmen's Bureau—was + successful. The former contained a program which was better suited to + actual conditions and which might have succeeded if it had been given a + fair trial. These laws were a measure of the extent to which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span> + the average + white would then go in "accepting the situation" so far as the blacks were + concerned. And on the whole the recognition of negro rights made in these + laws, and made at a time when the whites believed that they were free to + handle the situation, was remarkably fair. The negroes lately released + from slavery were admitted to the enjoyment of the same rights as the + whites as to legal protection of life, liberty, and property, as to + education and as to the family relation, limited only by the clear + recognition of the principles of political inferiority and social + separation. Unhappily this legislation was not put to the test of + practical experience because of the Freedmen's Bureau; it was nevertheless + skillfully used to arouse the dominant Northern party to a course of + action which made impossible any further effort to treat the race problem + with due consideration to actual local conditions. + </p> + <p> + Much of the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was of only temporary benefit to + both races. The results of its more permanent work were not generally + good. The institution was based upon the assumption that the negro race + must be protected from the white race. In its organization and + administration it was an impossible combination of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> + the practical and the theoretical, of opportunism and humanitarianism, of + common sense and idealism. It failed to exert a permanently wholesome + influence because its lesser agents were not held to strict accountability + by their superiors. Under these agents the alienation of the two races + began, and the ill feelings then aroused were destined to persist into a + long and troubled future. + </p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> + <a name="Chapter05" id="Chapter05"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER V.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Victory of the Radicals</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + soldiers who fought through the war to victory or to defeat had been + at home nearly two years before the radicals developed sufficient strength + to carry through their plans for a revolutionary reconstruction of the + Southern States. At the end of the war a majority of the Northern people + would have supported a settlement in accordance with Lincoln's policy. + Eight months later a majority, but a smaller one, would have supported + Johnson's work had it been possible to secure a popular decision on it. + How then did the radicals gain the victory over the conservatives? The + answer to this question is given by James Ford Rhodes in terms of + personalities: "Three men are responsible for the Congressional policy of + Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson, by his obstinacy and bad behavior; + Thaddeus Stevens, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> + by his vindictiveness and parliamentary tyranny; Charles Sumner, by his + pertinacity in a misguided humanitarianism." The President stood alone in + his responsibility, but his chief opponents were the ablest leaders of a + resolute band of radicals. + </p> + <p> + Radicalism did not begin in the Administration of Andrew Johnson. Lincoln + had felt its covert opposition throughout the war, but he possessed the + faculty of weakening his opponents, while Johnson's conduct usually + multiplied the number and the strength of his enemies. At first the + radicals criticized Lincoln's policy in regard to slavery, and after the + Emancipation Proclamation they shifted their attack to his "ten per cent" + plan for organizing the state governments as outlined in the Proclamation + of December, 1863. Lincoln's course was distasteful to them because he did + not admit the right of Congress to dictate terms, because of his liberal + attitude towards former Confederates, and because he was conservative on + the negro question. A schism among the Republican supporters of the war + was with difficulty averted in 1864, when Frémont threatened to + lead the radicals in opposition to the "Union" party of the President + and his conservative policy. + </p> + <p> + The breach was widened by the refusal of Congress to admit representatives + from Arkansas and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> + Louisiana in 1864 and to count the electoral vote of Louisiana and + Tennessee in 1865. The passage of the Wade-Davis reconstruction bill in + July, 1864, and the protests of its authors after Lincoln's pocket veto + called attention to the growing opposition. Severe criticism caused + Lincoln to withdraw the propositions which he had made in April, 1865, + with regard to the restoration of Virginia. In his last public + speech he referred with regret to the growing spirit of vindictiveness + toward the South. Much of the opposition to Lincoln's Southern policy was + based not on radicalism, that is, not on any desire for a revolutionary + change in the South, but upon a belief that Congress and not the Executive + should be entrusted with the work of reorganizing the Union. Many + congressional leaders were willing to have Congress itself carry through + the very policies which Lincoln had advocated; and a majority of the + Northern people would have endorsed them without much caring who was to + execute them. + </p> + <p> + The murder of Lincoln, the failure of the radicals to shape Johnson's + policy as they had hoped, and the continuing reaction against the + excessive expansion of the executive power added strength to the + opposition. But it was a long fight before the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span> + radical leaders won. Their victory was due to adroit tactics on their own + part and to mistakes, bad judgment, and bad manners on the part of the + President. When all hope of controlling Johnson had been given up, + Thaddeus Stevens and other leaders of similar views began to contrive + means to circumvent him. On December 1, 1865, before Congress met, a + caucus of radicals held in Washington agreed that a joint committee of the + two Houses should be selected to which should be referred matters relating + to reconstruction. This plan would thwart the more conservative Senate and + gain a desirable delay in which the radicals might develop their campaign. + The next day at a caucus of the Union party the plan went through without + arousing the suspicion of the supporters of the Administration. Next, + through the influence of Stevens, Edward McPherson, the clerk of the + House, omitted from the roll call of the House the names of the members + from the South. The radical program was then adopted and a week later the + Senate concurred in the action of the House as to the appointment of a + Joint Committee on Reconstruction. + </p> + <p> + On the issues before Congress both Houses were split into rather clearly + defined factions: + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> + the extreme radicals with such leaders as Stevens, Sumner, Wade, and + Boutwell; the moderate Republicans, chief among whom were Fessenden and + Trumbull; the administration Republicans led by Raymond, Doolittle, Cowan, + and Dixon; and the Democrats, of whom the ablest were Reverdy Johnson, + Guthrie, and Hendricks. All except the extreme radicals were willing to + support the President or to come to some fairly reasonable compromise. But + at no time were they given an opportunity to get together. Johnson and the + administration leaders did little in this direction and the radicals made + the most skillful use of the divisions among the conservatives. + </p> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="stevens.png" id="stevens.png"></a> +<img src="images/stevens.png" width="375" height="500" +alt="[Illustration: Thaddeus Stevens]" +title="[Illustration: Thaddeus Stevens]" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="#Illustrations">Thaddeus Stevens.</a><br /> +Photograph by Brady.</span> + <hr /> +</div> + <p> + Whatever final judgment may be passed upon the radical reconstruction + policy and its results, there can be no doubt of the political dexterity + of those who carried it through. Chief among them was Thaddeus Stevens, + vindictive and unscrupulous, filled with hatred of the Southern leaders, + bitter in speech and possessing to an extreme degree the faculty of making + ridiculous those who opposed him. He advocated confiscation, the + proscription or exile of leading whites, the granting of the franchise and + of lands to the negroes, and in Southern States the establishment of + territorial + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> + governments under the control of Congress. These States should, he said, + "never be recognized as capable of acting in the Union … + until the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make it what the + makers intended, and so as to secure perpetual ascendancy to the party of + the Union." + </p> + <p> + Charles Sumner, the leader of the radicals in the Senate, was moved less + than Stevens by personal hostility toward the whites of the South, but his + sympathy was reserved entirely for the blacks. He was unpractical, + theoretical, and not troubled by constitutional scruples. To him the + Declaration of Independence was the supreme law and it was the duty of + Congress to express its principles in appropriate legislation. Unlike + Stevens, who had a genuine liking for the negro, Sumner's sympathy for the + race was purely intellectual; for the individual negro he felt repulsion. + His views were in effect not different from those of Stevens. And he was + practical enough not to overlook the value of the negro vote. "To my + mind," he said, "nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity of + suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized States. It will not + be enough if you give it to those who read and write; you will not, in + this way, acquire the voting force which you need there for + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> + the protection of unionists, whether white or black. You will not secure + the new allies who are essential to the national cause." A leader of the + second rank was his colleague Henry Wilson, who was also actuated by a + desire for the negro's welfare and for the perpetuation of the Republican + party, which he said contained in its ranks "more of moral and + intellectual worth than was ever embodied in any political organization + in any land … created by no man or set of men but brought into + being by Almighty God himself … and endowed by the Creator with all + political power and every office under Heaven." Shellabarger of Ohio was + another important figure among the radicals. The following extract from + one of his speeches gives an indication of his character and temperament: + "They [the Confederates] framed iniquity and universal murder into + law.… Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce upon every sea. + They carved the bones of the dead heroes into ornaments, and drank from + goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your fountains, put mines + under your soldiers' prisons; organized bands whose leaders were concealed + in your homes; and commissions ordered the torch and yellow fever to be + carried to your cities and to your women and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> + children. They planned one universal bonfire of the North from Lake + Ontario to the Missouri." + </p> + <p> + Among the lesser lights may be mentioned Morton and Wade, both bluff, + coarse, and ungenerous, and thoroughly convinced that the Republican party + had a monopoly of loyalty, wisdom, and virtues, and that by any means it + must gain and keep control; Boutwell, fanatical and mediocre; and Benjamin + Butler, a charlatan and demagogue. As a class the Western radicals were + less troubled by humanitarian ideals than were those of the East and + sought more practical political results. + </p> + <p> + The Joint Committee on Reconstruction which finally decided the fate of + the Southern States was composed of eight radicals, four moderate + Republicans, and three Democrats. As James Gillespie Blaine wrote later, + "it was foreseen that in an especial degree the fortunes of the Republican + party would be in the keeping of the fifteen men who might be chosen." + This committee was divided into four subcommittees to take testimony. The + witnesses, all of whom were examined at Washington, included army officers + and Bureau agents who had served in the South, Southern Unionists, a few + politicians, and several former Confederates, among them General Robert E. + Lee and Alexander + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> + H. Stephens. Most of the testimony was of the kind needed to support the + contentions of the radicals that negroes were badly treated in the South; + that the whites were disloyal; that, should they be left in control, the + negro, free labor, the nation, and the Republican party would be in + danger; that the army and the Freedmen's Bureau must be kept in the South; + and that a radical reconstruction was necessary. No serious effort, + however, was made to ascertain the actual conditions in the South. Slow to + formulate a definite plan, the Joint Committee guided public sentiment + toward radicalism, converted gradually the Republican Congressmen, and + little by little undermined the power and influence of the President. + </p> + <p> + Not until after the new year was it plain that there was to be a fight to + the finish between Congress and the President. Congress had refused in + December, 1865, to accept the President's program, but there was still hope + for a compromise. Many conservatives had voted for the delay merely to + assert the rights of Congress; but the radicals wanted time to frame a + program. The Northern Democrats were embarrassingly cordial in their + support of Johnson and so also were most Southerners. The moderates were + not far away + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> + from the position of the President and the administration Republicans. But + the radicals skillfully postponed a test of strength until Stevens and + Sumner were ready. The latter declared that a generation must elapse + "before the rebel communities have so far been changed as to become safe + associates in a common government. Time, therefore, we must have. Through + time all other guarantees may be obtained; but time itself is a + guarantee." + </p> + <p> + To the Joint Committee were referred without debate all measures relating + to reconstruction, but the Committee was purposely making little + progress—contented merely to take testimony and to act as a clearing + house for the radical "facts" about "Southern outrages" while waiting for + the tide to turn. The "Black Laws" and the election of popular Confederate + leaders to office in the South were effectively used to alarm the friends + of the negroes, and the reports from the Bureau agents gave support to + those who condemned the Southern state governments as totally inadequate + and disloyal. + </p> + <p> + So apparent was the growth of radicalism that the President, alarmed by + the attitude of Sumner and Stevens and their followers, began to fear for + the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> + Constitution and forced the fight. The passage of a bill on February + 6, 1866, extending the life of the Freedmen's Bureau furnished the + occasion for the beginning of the open struggle. On the 19th of February + Johnson vetoed the bill, and the next day an effort was made to pass it + over the veto. Not succeeding in this attempt, the House of + Representatives adopted a concurrent resolution that Senators and + Representatives from the Southern States should be excluded until Congress + declared them entitled to representation. Ten days later the Senate also + adopted the resolution. + </p> + <p> + Though it was not yet too late for Johnson to meet the conservatives of + Congress on middle ground, he threw away his opportunity by an intemperate + and undignified speech on the 22d of February to a crowd at the White + House. As usual when excited, he forgot the proprieties and denounced the + radicals as enemies of the Union and even went so far as to charge + Stevens, Sumner, and Wendell Phillips with endeavoring to destroy the + fundamental principles of the government. Such conduct weakened his + supporters and rejoiced his enemies. It was expected that Johnson would + approve the bill to confer civil rights upon the negroes, but, goaded + perhaps by the speeches of Stevens, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> + he vetoed it on the 27th of March. Its patience now exhausted, Congress + passed the bill over the President's veto. To secure the requisite + majority in the Senate, Stockton, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, was + unseated on technical grounds, and Senator Morgan, who was "paired" with + a sick colleague, broke his word to vote aye—for which Wade + offensively thanked God. The moderates had now fallen away from the + President and at least for this session of Congress his policies + were wrecked. On the 16th of July the supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act + was passed over the veto, and on the 24th of July Tennessee was readmitted + to representation by a law the preamble of which asserted unmistakably + that Congress had assumed control of reconstruction. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the Joint Committee on Reconstruction had made a report + asserting that the Southerners had forfeited all constitutional rights, + that their state governments were not in constitutional form, and that + restoration could be accomplished only when Congress and the President + acted together in fixing the terms of readmission. The uncompromising + hostility of the South, the Committee asserted, made necessary adequate + safeguards which should include the disfranchisement + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> + of the white leaders, either negro suffrage or a reduction of white + representation, and repudiation of the Confederate war debt with + recognition of the validity of the United States debt. These terms were + embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted by Congress and + sent to the States on June 13, 1866. + </p> + <p> + In the congressional campaign of 1866 reconstruction was almost the sole + issue. For success the Administration must gain at least one-third of one + house, while the radicals were fighting for two-thirds of each House. If + the Administration should fail to make the necessary gain, the work + accomplished by the Presidents would be destroyed. The campaign was bitter + and extended through the summer and fall. Four national conventions were + held: the National Union party at Philadelphia made a respectable showing + in support of the President; the Southern Unionists, guided by the + Northern radicals met at the same place; a soldiers' and sailors' + convention at Cleveland supported the Administration; and another + convention of soldiers and sailors at Pittsburgh endorsed the radical + policies. A convention of Confederate soldiers and sailors at Memphis + endorsed the President, but the Southern support + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> + and that of the Northern Democrats did not encourage moderate Republicans + to vote for the Administration. Three members of Johnson's + Cabinet—Harlan, Speed, and Dennison—resigned because they were + unwilling to follow their chief further in opposing Congress. + </p> + <p> + The radicals had plenty of campaign material in the testimony collected by + the Joint Committee, in the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in the + bloody race riots which had occurred in Memphis and New Orleans. The + greatest blunder of the Administration was Johnson's speechmaking tour to + the West which he called "Swinging Around the Circle." Every time he made + a speech he was heckled by persons in the crowd, lost his temper, + denounced Congress and the radical leaders, and conducted himself in an + undignified manner. The election returns showed more than a two-thirds + majority in each House against the President. The Fortieth Congress would + therefore be safely radical, and in consequence the Thirty-ninth was + encouraged to be more radical during its last session. + </p> + <p> + Public interest now for a time turned to the South, where the Fourteenth + Amendment was before the state legislatures. The radicals, taunted with + having no plan of reconstruction beyond a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> + desire to keep the Southern States out of the Union, professed to see in + the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment a good opportunity to readmit + the States on a safe basis. The elections of 1866 had pointed to the + ratification of the proposed amendment as an essential preliminary to + readmission. But would additional demands be made upon the South? Sumner, + Stevens, and Fessenden were sure that negro suffrage also must come, but + Wade, Chase, Garfield, and others believed that nothing beyond the terms + of the Fourteenth Amendment would be asked. + </p> + <p> + In the Southern legislatures there was little disposition to ratify the + amendment. The rapid development of the radical policies during 1866 had + convinced most Southerners that nothing short of a general humiliation and + complete revolution in the South would satisfy the dominant party, and + there were few who wished to be "parties to our own dishonor." The + President advised the States not to accept the amendment, but several + Southern leaders favored it, fearing that worse would come if they should + reject it. Only in the legislatures of Alabama and Florida was there any + serious disposition to accept the amendment; and in the end all the + unreconstructed States voted adversely + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span> + during the fall and winter of 1866-67. This unanimity of action was due + in part to the belief that, even if the amendment were ratified, the + Southern States would still be excluded, and in part to the general + dislike of the proscriptive section which would disfranchise all + Confederates of prominence and result in the breaking up of the state + governments. The example of unhappy Tennessee, which had ratified the + Fourteenth Amendment and had been readmitted, was not one to encourage + conservative people in the other Southern States. + </p> + <p> + The rejection of the amendment put the question of reconstruction squarely + before Congress. There was no longer a possibility of accomplishing the + reconstruction of the Southern States by means of constitutional + amendments. Some of the Border and Northern States were already showing + signs of uneasiness at the continued exclusion of the South. But if the + Constitutional Amendment had failed, other means of reconstruction were at + hand, for the radicals now controlled the Thirty-ninth Congress, from + which the Southern representatives were excluded, and would also control + the Fortieth Congress. + </p> + <p> + Under the lead of Stevens and Sumner the radicals now perfected their + plans. On January 8, 1867, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span> + their first measure, conferring the franchise upon negroes in the + District of Columbia, was passed over the presidential veto, though the + proposal had been voted down a few weeks earlier by a vote of 6525 to + 35 in Washington and 812 to 1 in Georgetown. In the next place, by an + act of January 31, 1867, the franchise was extended to negroes in the + territories, and on March 2, 1867, three important measures were enacted: + the Tenure of Office Act and a rider to the Army Appropriation + Act—both designed to limit the power of the President—and the + first Reconstruction Act. By the Tenure of Office Act the President was + prohibited from removing officeholders except with the consent of the + Senate; and by the Army Act he was forbidden to issue orders except + through General Grant or to relieve him of command or to assign him to + command away from Washington unless at the General's own request or with + the previous approval of the Senate. The first measure was meant to check + the removal of radical officeholders by Johnson, and the other, which was + secretly drawn up for Boutwell by Stanton, was designed to prevent the + President from exercising his constitutional command of the army. + </p> + <p> + The first Reconstruction Act declared that no + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> + legal state government existed in the ten unreconstructed States and that + there was no adequate protection for life and property. The Johnson and + Lincoln governments in those States were declared to have no legal status + and to be subject wholly to the authority of the United States to modify + or abolish. The ten States were divided into five military districts, over + each of which a general officer was to be placed in command. Military + tribunals were to supersede the civil courts where necessary. Stevens was + willing to rest here, though some of his less radical followers, disliking + military rule but desiring to force negro suffrage, inserted a provision + in the law that a State might be readmitted to representation upon the + following conditions: a constitutional convention must be held, the + members of which were elected by males of voting age without regard to + color, excluding whites who would be disfranchised by the proposed + Fourteenth Amendment; a constitution including the same rule of suffrage + must be framed, ratified by the same electorate, and approved by Congress; + and lastly, the legislatures elected under this constitution must ratify + the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, after which, if the Fourteenth + Amendment should have become a part of the Federal + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span> + Constitution, the State should be readmitted to representation. + </p> + <p> + In order that the administration of this radical legislation might be + supervised by its friends, the Thirty-ninth Congress had passed a law + requiring the Fortieth Congress to meet on the 4th of March instead of in + December as was customary. According to the Reconstruction Act of the 2nd + of March it was left to the state government or to the people of a State + to make the first move towards reconstruction. If they preferred, they + might remain under military rule. Either by design or by carelessness no + machinery of administration was provided for the execution of the act. + When it became evident that the Southerners preferred military rule the + new Congress passed a Supplementary Reconstruction Act on the 23d of March + designed to force the earlier act into operation. The five commanding + generals were directed to register the blacks of voting age and the whites + who were not disfranchised, to hold elections for conventions, to call the + conventions, to hold elections to ratify or reject the constitutions, and + to forward the constitutions, if ratified, to the President for + transmission to Congress. + </p> + <p> + In these reconstruction acts the whole doctrine + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span> + of radicalism was put on the way to accomplishment. Its spread had been + rapid. In December, 1865, the majority of Congress would have accepted + with little modification the work of Lincoln and Johnson. Three months + later the Civil Rights Act measured the advance. Very soon the new + Freedmen's Bureau Act and the Fourteenth Amendment indicated the rising + tide of radicalism. The campaign of 1866 and the attitude of the Southern + States swept all radicals and most moderate Republicans swiftly into a + merciless course of reconstruction. Moderate reconstruction had nowhere + strong support. Congress, touched in its <i>amour propre</i> by + presidential disregard, was eager for extremes. Johnson, who regarded + himself as defending the Constitution against radical assaults, was + stubborn, irascible, and undignified, and with his associates was no + match in political strategy for his radical opponents. + </p> + <p> + The average Republican or Unionist in the North, if he had not been + brought by skillful misrepresentation to believe a new rebellion impending + in the South, was at any rate painfully alive to the fear that the + Democratic party might regain power. With the freeing of the slaves the + representation of the South in Congress would be + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> + increased. At first it seemed that the South might divide in politics as + before the war, but the longer the delay the more the Southern whites + tended to unite into one party acting with the Democrats. With their + eighty-five representatives and a slight reaction in the North, they might + gain control of the lower House of Congress. The Union-Republican party + had a majority of less than one hundred in 1866 and this was lessened + slightly in the Fortieth Congress. The President was for all practical + purposes a Democrat again. The prospect was too much for the very human + politicians to view without distress. Stevens, speaking in support of the + Military Reconstruction Bill, said: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the first + place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to negro suffrage in the + rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers + and make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is necessary in + order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. With them the + blacks would act in a body, and it is believed that in each of these + States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the + States, and protect themselves. Now they are the victims of daily murder. + They must suffer constant persecution or be exiled. Another good reason is + that it would insure the ascendancy of the union party.… I believe + … that on the continued + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> + ascendancy of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If + impartial suffrage is excluded in the rebel States, then every one of + them is sure to send a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their + kindred Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and + control Congress. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The laws passed on the 2d and the 23d of March were war measures and + presupposed a continuance of war conditions. The Lincoln-Johnson state + governments were overturned; Congress fixed the qualifications of voters + for that time and for the future; and the President, shorn of much of his + constitutional power, could exercise but little control over the military + government. Nothing that a State might do would secure restoration until + it should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. The + war had been fought upon the theory that the old Union must be preserved; + but the basic theory of the reconstruction was that a new Union was to be + created. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> + <a name="Chapter06" id="Chapter06"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VI.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Rule of the Major Generals</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">From</span> + the passage of the reconstruction acts to the close of Johnson's + Administration, Congress, working the will of the radical majority, was in + supreme control. The army carried out the will of Congress and to that + body, not to the President, the commanding general and his subordinates + looked for direction. + </p> + <p> + The official opposition of the President to the policy of Congress ceased + when that policy was enacted into law. He believed this legislation to be + unconstitutional, but he considered it his duty to execute the laws. He at + once set about the appointment of generals to command the military + districts created in the South, ¹ a task + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> + calling for no little discretion, since much depended upon the character + of these military governors, or "satraps," as they were frequently called + by the opposition. The commanding general in a district was charged with + many duties, military, political, and administrative. It was his duty to + carry on a government satisfactory to the radicals and not too irritating + to the Southern whites; at the same time he must execute the + reconstruction acts by putting old leaders out of power and negroes in. + Violent opposition to this policy on the part of the South was not looked + for. Notwithstanding the "Southern outrage" campaign, it was generally + recognized in government circles that conditions in the seceded States had + gradually been growing better since the close of the war. There was in + many regions, to be sure, a general laxity in enforcing laws, but that had + always been characteristic of the newer parts of the South. The Civil + Rights Act was generally in force, the "Black Laws" had been suspended, + and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span> + the Freedmen's Bureau was everywhere caring for the negroes. What disorder + existed was of recent origin and in the main was due to the unsettling + effects of the debates in Congress and to the organization of the negroes + for political purposes. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_06-1" name="footer_06-1"></a> +¹ The first five generals appointed were Schofield, Sickles, + Pope, Ord, and Sheridan. None of these remained in his + district until reconstruction was completed. To Schofield's + command in the first district succeeded in turn Stoneman, + Webb, and Canby; Sickles gave way to Canby, and Pope to + Meade; Ord in the fourth district was followed by Gillem, + McDowell, and Ames; Sheridan, in the fifth, was succeeded by + Griffen, Mower, Hancock, Buchanan, Reynolds, and Canby. Some + of the generals were radical; others, moderate and tactful. + The most extreme were Sheridan, Pope, and Sickles. Those + most acceptable to the whites were Hancock, Schofield, and + Meade. General Grant himself became more radical in his + actions as he became involved in the fight between Congress + and the President.</p> +</div> + <p> + Military rule was established in the South with slight friction, but it + was soon found that the reconstruction laws were not sufficiently clear on + two points: first, whether there was any limit to the authority of the + five generals over the local and state governments and, if so, whether the + limiting authority was in the President; and second, whether the + disfranchising provisions in the laws were punitive and hence to be + construed strictly. Attorney-General Stanbery, in May and June, 1867, drew + up opinions in which he maintained that the laws were to be considered + punitive and therefore to be construed strictly. After discussions in + cabinet meetings these opinions received the approval of all except + Stanton, Secretary of War, who had already joined the radical camp. The + Attorney-General's opinion was sent out to the district commanders for + their information and guidance. But Congress did not intend to permit the + President or his Cabinet to direct the process of reconstruction, and in + the Act of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> + July 19, 1867, it gave a radical interpretation to the + reconstruction legislation, declared itself in control, gave full power to + General Grant and to the district commanders subject only to Grant, + directed the removal of all local officials who opposed the reconstruction + policies, and warned the civil and military officers of the United States + that none of them should "be bound in his action by any opinion of any + civil officer of the United States." This interpretive legislation gave a + broad basis for the military government and resulted in a severe + application of the disfranchising provisions of the laws. + </p> + <p> + The rule of the five generals lasted in all the States until June, 1868, + and continued in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and Georgia until 1870. + There had been, to be sure, some military government in 1865, subject, + however, to the President, and from 1865 to 1867 the army, along with the + Freedmen's Bureau, had exerted a strong influence in the government of the + South, but in the régime now inaugurated the military was supreme. + The generals had a superior at Washington, but whether it was the + President, General Grant, or Congress was not clear until the Act of July + 19, 1867 made Congress the source of authority. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> + The power of the generals most strikingly appeared in their control of the + state governments which were continued as provisional organizations. Since + no elections were permitted, all appointments and removals were made from + military headquarters, which soon became political beehives, centers of + wirepulling and agencies for the distribution of spoils. At the outset + civil officers were ordered to retain their offices during good behavior, + subject to military control. But no local official was permitted to use + his influence ever so slightly against reconstruction. Since most of them + did not favor the policy of Congress, thousands were removed as "obstacles + to reconstruction." The Governors of Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, + Mississippi, and Texas were displaced and others appointed in their stead. + All kinds of subordinate offices rapidly became vacant. New appointments + were nearly always carpetbaggers and native radicals who could take the + "ironclad" oath. The generals complained that there were not enough + competent native "loyalists" to fill the offices, and frequently an army + officer was installed as governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor, + or mayor. In nearly all towns the police force was reorganized and + former Federal soldiers were added to the force, while the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span> + regular troops were used for general police purposes and for rural + constabulary. + </p> + <p> + Over the administration of justice the military authorities exercised a + close supervision. Instructions were sent out to court officers covering + the selection of juries, the suspension of certain laws, and the rules of + evidence and procedure. Courts were often closed, court decrees set aside + or modified, prisoners released, and many cases reserved for trial by + military commission. Some commanders required juries to admit negro + members and insisted that all jurors take the "ironclad" test oath. There + was some attempt at regulating the Federal courts but without much + success. + </p> + <p> + Since the state legislatures were forbidden to meet, much legislation was + enacted through military orders. Stay laws were enacted, the color line + was abolished, new criminal regulations were promulgated, and the police + power was invoked in some instances to justify sweeping measures, such as + the prohibition of whisky manufacture in North Carolina and South + Carolina. The military governors levied, increased, or decreased taxes and + made appropriations which the state treasurers were forced to pay, but + they restrained the radical conventions, all of which wished to spend much + money. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> + According to the Act of March 23, 1867, the generals and their + appointees were to be paid by the United States, but in practice the + running expenses of reconstruction were paid by the state treasurers. + </p> + <p> + Any attempt to favor the Confederate soldiers was frowned upon. Laws + providing wooden legs and free education for crippled Confederates were + suspended. Militia organizations and military schools were forbidden. No + uniform might be worn, no parades were permitted, no memorial and + historical societies were to be organized, and no meeting of any kind + could be held without a permit. The attempt to control the press resulted + in what one general called "a horrible uproar." Editors were forbidden to + express themselves too strongly against reconstruction; public advertising + and printing were awarded only to those papers actively supporting + reconstruction. Several newspapers were suppressed, a notable example + being the <i>Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor</i>, whose editor, + Ryland Randolph, was a picturesque figure in Alabama journalism and a + leader in the Ku Klux Klan. + </p> + <p> + The military administration was thorough, and, as a whole honest and + efficient. With fewer than ten thousand soldiers the generals maintained + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> + order and carried on the reconstruction of the South. The whites made no + attempt at resistance, though they were irritated by military rule and + resented the loss of self-government. But most Southerners preferred the + rule of the army to the alternative reign of the carpetbagger, scalawag, + and negro. The extreme radicals at the North, on the other hand, were + disgusted at the conservative policy of the generals. The apathy of the + whites at the beginning of the military reconstruction excited surprise on + all sides. Not only was there no violent opposition, but for a few weeks + there was no opposition at all. The civil officials were openly + unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced dissent not untouched with + disgust; others simply could not take the situation seriously because it + seemed so absurd; many leaders were indifferent, while others—among + them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Longstreet, and Governor + Patton—without approving the policy, advised the whites to + coöperate with the military authorities and save all they could out + of the situation. General Beauregard, for instance, wrote in 1867: "If the + suffrage of the negro is properly handled and directed we shall defeat + our adversaries with their own weapons. The negro + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> + is Southern born. With education and property qualifications he can be + made to take an interest in the affairs of the South and in its + prosperity. He will side with the whites." + </p> + <p> + Northern observers who were friendly to the South or who disapproved of + this radical reconstruction saw the danger more clearly than the + Southerners themselves, who seemed not to appreciate the full implication + of the situation. In this connection the New York <i>Herald</i> remarked: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + We may regard the entire ten unreconstructed Southern States, with + possibly one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming + revolutionary influence to a common and inevitable fate. They are all + bound to be governed by blacks spurred on by worse than blacks—white + wretches who dare not show their faces in respectable society anywhere. + This is the most abominable phase barbarism has assumed since the dawn of + civilization. It was all right and proper to put down the rebellion. It + was all right perhaps to emancipate the slaves.… But it is not + right to make slaves of white men even though they may have been former + masters of blacks. This is but a change in a system of bondage that is + rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has been inaugurated + in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The political parties rapidly grouped themselves for the coming struggle. + The radical Republican + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> + party indeed was in process of organization in the South even before the + passage of the reconstruction acts. Its membership was made up of negroes, + carpetbaggers, or Northern men who had come in as speculators, officers + of the Freedmen's Bureau and of the army, scalawags or Confederate + renegades, "Peace Society" men, ¹ and Unionists of Civil War times, + with a few old Whigs who could not yet bring themselves to affiliate with + the Democrats. At first it seemed that a respectable number of whites + might be secured for the radical party, but the rapid organization of the + negroes checked the accession of whites. In the winter and spring of + 1866-67 the negroes near the towns were well organized by the Union League + and the Freedmen's Bureau and then, after the passage of the + reconstruction acts, the organizing activities of the radical chieftains + shifted to the rural districts. The Union League was greatly extended; + Union League conventions were held to which local whites were not + admitted; and the formation of a black man's party was well on the way + before the registration of the voters was completed. Visiting statesmen + from the North, among them + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> + Henry Wilson of Massachusetts and "Pig Iron" Kelley of Pennsylvania, + toured the South in support of the radical program, and the registrars + and all Federal officials aided in the work. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_06-2" name="footer_06-2"></a> +¹ See <i>The Day of the Confederacy,</i> by Nathaniel W. + Stephenson (in <i>The Chronicles of America</i>), p. 121, + footnote.</p> +</div> + + <p> + The whites, slow to comprehend the real extent of radicalism, were finally + aroused to the necessity of organizing, if they were to influence the + negro and have a voice in the conventions. The old party divisions were + still evident. With difficulty a portion of the Whigs were brought with + the Democrats into one conservative party during the summer and fall of + 1867, though many still held aloof. The lack of the old skilled leadership + was severely felt. In places where the white man's party was given a name + it was called "Democratic <em>and</em> Conservative," to spare the + feelings of former Whigs who were loath to bear the party name of their + quondam opponents. + </p> + <p> + The first step in the military reconstruction was the registration of + voters. In each State a central board of registrars was appointed by the + district commander and a local board for every county and large town. Each + board consisted of three members—all radicals—who were + required to subscribe to the "ironclad" oath. In several States one negro + was appointed to each local board. The + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> + registrars listed negro voters during the day, and at night worked at the + organization of a radical Republican party. The prospective voters were + required to take the oath prescribed in the Reconstruction Act, but the + registrars were empowered to go behind the oath and investigate the + Confederate record of each applicant. This authority was invoked to carry + the disfranchisement of the whites far beyond the intention of the law in + an attempt to destroy the leadership of the whites and to register enough + negroes to outvote them at the polls. For this purpose the registration + was continued until October 1, 1867, and an active campaign of education + and organization carried on. + </p> + <p> + At the close of the registration, 703,000 black voters were on the rolls + and 627,000 whites. In Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and + Mississippi there were black majorities, and in the other States the + blacks and the radical whites together formed majorities. The white + minorities included several thousand who had been rejected by the + registrars but restored by the military commanders. Though large numbers + of blacks were dropped from the revised rolls as fraudulently registered, + the registration statistics nevertheless + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span> + bore clear witness to the political purpose of those who compiled them. + </p> + <p> + Next followed a vote on the question of holding a state convention and the + election of delegates to such a convention if held—a double + election. The whites, who had been harassed in the registration and who + feared race conflicts at the elections, considered whether they ought not + to abstain from voting. By staying away from the polls, they might bring + the vote cast in each State below a majority and thus defeat the proposed + conventions for, unless a majority of the registered voters actually cast + ballots either for or against a convention, no convention could be held. + Nowhere, however, was this plan of not voting fully carried out, for, + though most whites abstained, enough of them voted (against the + conventions, of course) to make the necessary majority in each State. The + effect of the abstention policy upon the personnel of the conventions was + unfortunate. In every convention there was a radical majority with a + conservative and all but negligible minority. In South Carolina and + Louisiana there were negro majorities. In every State except North + Carolina, Texas, and Virginia the negroes and the carpetbaggers together + were in the majority over native whites. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> + The conservative whites were of fair ability; the carpetbaggers and + scalawags produced in each convention a few able leaders, but most of them + were conscienceless political soldiers of fortune; the negro members were + inexperienced, and most of them were quite ignorant, though a few leaders + of ability did appear among them. In Alabama, for example, only two negro + members could write, though half had been taught to sign their names. They + were barbers, field hands, hack drivers, and servants. A negro chaplain + was elected who invoked divine blessings on "unioners and cusses on + rebels." It was a sign of the new era when the convention specially + invited the "ladies of colored members" to seats in the gallery. + </p> + <p> + The work of the conventions was for the most part cut and dried, the abler + members having reached a general agreement before they met. The + constitutions, mosaics of those of other States, were noteworthy only for + the provisions made to keep the whites out of power and to regulate the + relations of the races in social matters. The Texas constitution alone + contained no proscriptive clauses beyond those required by the Fourteenth + Amendment. The most thoroughgoing proscription of Confederates was found + in the constitutions + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> + of Mississippi, Alabama, and Virginia; and in these States the voter must + also purge himself of guilt by agreeing to accept the "civil and political + equality of all men" or by supporting reconstruction. Only in South + Carolina and Louisiana were race lines abolished by law. + </p> + <p> + The legislative work of the conventions was more interesting than the + constitution making. By ordinance the legality of negro marriages was + dated from November, 1867, or some date later than had been fixed by the + white conventions of 1865. Mixed schools were provided in some States; + militia for the black districts but not for the white was to be raised; + while in South Carolina it was made a penal offense to call a person a + "Yankee" or a "nigger." Few of the negro delegates demanded proscription + of whites or social equality; they wanted schools and the vote. The white + radicals were more anxious to keep the former Confederates from holding + office than from voting. The generals in command everywhere used their + influence to secure moderate action by the conventions, and for this they + were showered with abuse. + </p> + <p> + As provided by the reconstruction acts, the new constitutions were + submitted to the electorate + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> + created by those instruments. Unless a majority of the registered voters + in a State should take part in the election the reconstruction would fail + and the State would remain under military rule. The whites now inaugurated + a more systematic policy of abstention and in Alabama, on February 4, + 1868, succeeded in holding the total vote below a majority. Congress then + rushed to the rescue of radicalism with the act of the 11th of March, + which provided that a mere majority of those voting in the State was + sufficient to inaugurate reconstruction. Arkansas had followed the lead of + Alabama, but too late; in Mississippi the constitution was defeated by a + majority vote; in Texas the convention had made no provision for a vote; + and in Virginia the commanding general, disapproving of the work of the + convention, refused to pay the expenses of an election. In the other six + States the constitutions were adopted. ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_06-3" name="footer_06-3"></a> +¹ Except in Texas, the work of constitution making was + completed between November 5, 1867, and May 18, 1868.</p> +</div> + <p> + These elections gave rise to more violent contests than before. They also + were double elections, as the voters cast ballots for state and local + officials and at the same time for or against the constitution. The + radical nominations were made by the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span> + Union League and the Freedmen's Bureau, and nearly all radicals who had + been members of conventions were nominated and elected to office. The + negroes, expecting now to reap some benefits of reconstruction, frequently + brought sacks to the polls to "put the franchise in." The elections were + all over by June, 1868, and the newly elected legislatures promptly + ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. + </p> + <p> + It now remained for Congress to approve the work done in the South and to + readmit the reorganized States. The case of Alabama gave some trouble. + Even Stevens, for a time, thought that this State should stay out; but + there was danger in delay. The success of the abstention policy in Alabama + and Arkansas and the reviving interest of the whites foreshadowed white + majorities in some places; the scalawags began to forsake the radical + party for the conservatives; and there were Democratic gains in the North + in 1867. Only six States, New York and five New England States, allowed + the negro to vote, while four States, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and + Ohio, voted down negro suffrage after the passage of the reconstruction + acts. The ascendancy of the radicals in Congress was menaced. The radicals + needed the support of their radical brethren in Southern States + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> + and they could not afford to wait for the Fourteenth Amendment to become + a part of the Constitution or to tolerate other delay. On the 22d and the + 25th of June acts were therefore passed admitting seven States, Alabama + included, to representation in Congress upon the "fundamental condition" + that "the constitutions of neither of said States shall ever be so amended + or changed as to deprive any citizens or class of citizens of the United + States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by the + constitution thereof herein recognized." + </p> + <p> + The generals now turned over the government to the recently elected + radical officials and retired into the background. Military reconstruction + was thus accomplished in all the States except Virginia, Mississippi, and + Texas. + </p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> + <a name="Chapter07" id="Chapter07"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VII.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Trial of President Johnson</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">While</span> + the radical program was being executed in the South, Congress was + engaged not only in supervising reconstruction but in subduing the Supreme + Court and in "conquering" President Johnson. One must admire the + efficiency of the radical machine. When the Southerners showed that they + preferred military rule as permitted by the Act of the 2nd of March, + Congress passed the Act of the 23d of March which forced the + reconstruction. When the President ventured to assert his power in behalf + of a considerate administration of the reconstruction acts, Congress took + the power out of his hands by the law of the 19th of July. The Southern + plan to defeat the new state constitutions by abstention was no sooner + made clear in the case of Alabama than Congress came to the rescue with + the Act of March 11, 1868. + </p> + <p> + Had it seemed necessary, Congress would have + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span> + handled the Supreme Court as it did the Southerners. The opponents of + radical reconstruction were anxious to get the reconstruction laws of + March, 1867, before the Court. Chief Justice Chase was known to be + opposed to military reconstruction, and four other justices were, it was + believed, doubtful of the constitutionality of the laws. A series of + conservative decisions gave hope to those who looked to the Court for + relief. The first decision, in the case of <i>ex parte</i> Milligan, + declared unconstitutional the trials of civilians by military commissions + when civil courts were open. A few months later, in the cases of Cummings + <i>vs</i>. Missouri and <i>ex parte</i> Garland, the Court declared + invalid, because <i>ex post facto</i>, the state laws designed to punish + former Confederates. + </p> + <p> + But the first attempts to get the reconstruction acts before the Supreme + Court failed. The State of Mississippi, in April, 1867, brought suit to + restrain the President from executing the reconstruction acts. The Court + refused to interfere with the Executive. A similar suit was then brought + against Secretary Stanton by Georgia with a like result. But in 1868, in + the case of <i>ex parte</i> McCardle, it appeared that the question of the + constitutionality of the reconstruction acts + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> + would be passed upon. McCardle, a Mississippi editor arrested for + opposition to reconstruction and convicted by military commission, + appealed to the Supreme Court, which asserted its jurisdiction. But the + radicals in alarm rushed through Congress an act (March 27, 1868) which + took away from the Court its jurisdiction in cases arising under the + reconstruction acts. The highest court was thus silenced. + </p> + <p> + The attempt to remove the President from office was the only part of the + radical program that failed, and this by the narrowest of margins. During + the spring and summer of 1866 there was some talk among politicians of + impeaching President Johnson, and in December a resolution was introduced + by Representative Ashley of Ohio looking toward impeachment. Though the + committee charged with the investigation of "the official conduct of + Andrew Johnson" reported that enough testimony had been taken to justify + further inquiry, the House took no action. There were no less than five + attempts at impeachment during the next year. Stevens, Butler, and others + were anxious to get the President out of the way, but the majority were as + yet unwilling to impeach for merely political reasons. There were some + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> + who thought that the radicals had sufficient majorities to ensure all + needed legislation and did not relish the thought of Ben Wade in the + presidency. ¹ Others considered that no just grounds for action had + been found in the several investigations of Johnson's record. Besides, + the President's authority and influence had been much curtailed by the + legislation relating to the Freedmen's Bureau, tenure of office, + reconstruction, and command of the army, and Congress had also refused to + recognize his amnesty and pardoning powers. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_07-1" name="footer_07-1"></a> +¹ Senator Wade of Ohio was President <i>pro tempore</i> of the + Senate and by the act of 1791 would succeed President + Johnson if he were removed from office.</p> +</div> + <p> + But the desire to impeach the President was increasing in power, and very + little was needed to provoke a trial of strength between the radicals and + the President. The drift toward impeachment was due in part to the + legislative reaction against the Executive, and in part to Johnson's own + opposition to reconstruction and to his use of the patronage against the + radicals. Specific grievances were found in his vetoes of the various + reconstruction bills, in his criticisms of Congress and the radical + leaders, and in the fact, as Stevens asserted, that he was a "radical + renegade." + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> + Johnson was a Southern man, an old-line State Rights Democrat, + somewhat anti-negro in feeling. He knew no book except the Constitution, + and that he loved with all his soul. Sure of the correctness of his + position, he was too stubborn to change or to compromise. He was no more + to be moved than Stevens or Sumner. To overcome Johnson's vetoes required + two-thirds of each House of Congress; to impeach and remove him would + require only a majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate. + </p> + <p> + The desired occasion for impeachment was furnished by Johnson's attempt to + get Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, out of the Cabinet. Stanton + held radical views and was at no time sympathetic with or loyal to + Johnson, but he loved office too well to resign along with those cabinet + members who could not follow the President in his struggle with Congress. + He was seldom frank and sincere in his dealings with the President, and + kept up an underhand correspondence with the radical leaders, even + assisting in framing some of the reconstruction legislation which was + designed to render Johnson powerless. In him the radicals had a + representative within the President's Cabinet. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span> + Wearied of Stanton's disloyalty, Johnson asked him to resign and, upon a + refusal, suspended him in August, 1867, and placed General Grant in + temporary charge of the War Department. General Grant, Chief Justice + Chase, and Secretary McCulloch, though they all disliked Stanton, advised + the President against suspending him. But Johnson was determined. About + the same time he exercised his power in removing Sheridan and Sickles from + their commands in the South and replaced them with Hancock and Canby. The + radicals were furious, but Johnson had secured at least the support of a + loyal Cabinet. + </p> + <p> + The suspension of Stanton was reported to the Senate in December, 1867, + and on January 13, 1868, the Senate voted not to concur in the + President's action. Upon receiving notice of the vote in the Senate, + Grant at once left the War Department and Stanton again took possession. + Johnson now charged Grant with failing to keep a promise either to hold + on himself or to make it possible to appoint some one else who would hold + on until the matter might be brought into the courts. The President by + this accusation angered Grant and threw him with his great influence + into the arms of the radicals. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> + Against the advice of his leading counselors Johnson persisted + in his intention to keep Stanton out of the Cabinet. Accordingly on the + 21st of February he dismissed Stanton from office and appointed Lorenzo + Thomas, the Adjutant General, as acting Secretary of War. Stanton, advised + by the radicals in Congress to "stick," refused to yield possession to + Thomas and had him arrested for violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The + matter now was in the courts where Johnson wanted it, but the radical + leaders, fearing that the courts would decide against Stanton and the + reconstruction acts, had the charges against Thomas withdrawn. Thus failed + the last attempt to get the reconstruction laws before the courts. On the + 22nd of February the President sent to the Senate the name of Thomas + Ewing, General Sherman's father-in-law, as Secretary of War, but no + attention was paid to the nomination. + </p> + <p> + On February 24, 1868, the House voted, 128 to 47, to impeach the President + "of high crimes and misdemeanors in office." The Senate was formally + notified the next day and on the 4th of March the seven managers selected + by the House appeared before the Senate with the eleven articles of + impeachment. At first it seemed to the public + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> + that the impeachment proceedings were merely the culmination of a struggle + for the control of the army. There were rumors that Johnson had plans to + use the army against Congress and against reconstruction. General Grant, + directed by Johnson to accept orders from Stanton only if he were + satisfied that they came from the President, refused to follow these + instructions. Stanton, professing to fear violence, barricaded himself in + the War Department and was furnished with a guard of soldiers by General + Grant, who from this time used his influence in favor of impeachment. + Excited by the most sensational rumors, some people even believed a new + rebellion to be imminent. + </p> + <p> + The impeachment was rushed to trial by the House managers and was not + ended until the decision was taken by the votes of the 16th and 26th of + May. The eleven articles of impeachment consisted of summaries of all that + had been charged against Johnson, except the charge that he had been an + accomplice in the murder of Lincoln. The only one which had any real basis + was the first, which asserted that he had violated the Tenure of Office + Act in trying to remove Stanton. The other articles were merely expansions + of the first or + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span> + were based upon Johnson's opposition to reconstruction or upon his + speeches in criticism of Congress. Nothing could be said about his + control of the patronage, though this was one of the unwritten charges. + J. W. Schuckers, in his life of Chase, says that the radical + leaders "felt the vast importance of the presidential patronage; many of + them felt, too, that, according to the maxim that to the victors belong + the spoils, the Republican party was rightfully entitled to the Federal + patronage, and they determined to get possession of it. There was but one + method and that was by impeachment and removal of the President." + </p> + <p> + The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell, + all better known as politicians than as lawyers. The President was + represented by an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson, + and Groesbeck. Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the + President but withdrew under conditions not entirely creditable to + himself. + </p> + <p> + The trial was a one-sided affair. The President's counsel were refused + more than six days for the preparation of the case. Chief Justice Chase, + who presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a + judicial and not a political + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> + body, and he accordingly ruled that only legal evidence should be + admitted; but the Senate majority preferred to assume that they were + settling a political question. Much evidence favorable to the President + was excluded, but everything else was admitted. As the trial went on the + country began to understand that the impeachment was a mistake. Few + people wanted to see Senator Wade made President. The partisan attitude + of the Senate majority and the weakness of the case against Johnson had + much to do in moderating public opinion, and the timely nomination of + General Schofield as Secretary of War after Stanton's resignation + reassured those who feared that the army might be placed under some + extreme Democrat. + </p> + <p> + As the time drew near for the decision, every possible pressure was + brought by the radicals to induce senators to vote for conviction. To + convict the President, thirty-six votes were necessary. There were only + twelve Democrats in the Senate, but all were known to be in favor of + acquittal. When the test came on the 16th of May, seven Republicans voted + with the Democrats for acquittal on the eleventh article. Another vote on + the 26th of May, on the first and second articles, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> + showed that conviction was not possible. The radical legislative reaction + was thus checked at its highest point and the presidency as a part of the + American governmental system was no longer in danger. The seven + Republicans had, however, signed their own political death warrants; + they were never forgiven by the party leaders. + </p> + <p> + The presidential campaign was beginning to take shape even before the + impeachment trial began. Both the Democrats and the reorganized + Republicans were turning with longing toward General Grant as a candidate. + Though he had always been a Democrat, nevertheless when Johnson actually + called him a liar and a promise breaker Grant went over to the radicals + and was nominated for President on May 20, 1868, by the National Union + Republican party. Schuyler Colfax was the candidate for Vice President. + The Democrats, who could have won with Grant and who under good leadership + still had a bare chance to win, nominated Horatio Seymour of New York and + Francis P. Blair of Missouri. The former had served as war governor of New + York, while the latter was considered an extreme Democrat who believed + that the radical reconstruction of the South should be stopped, the troops + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> + withdrawn, and the people left to form their own governments. The + Democratic platform pronounced itself opposed to the reconstruction + policy, but Blair's opposition was too extreme for the North. Seymour, + more moderate and a skillful campaigner, made headway in the + rehabilitation of the Democratic party. The Republican party declared for + radical reconstruction and negro suffrage in the South but held that each + Northern State should be allowed to settle the suffrage for itself. It was + not a courageous platform, but Grant was popular and carried his party + through to success. + </p> + <p> + The returns showed that in the election Grant had carried twenty-six + States with 214 electoral votes, while Seymour had carried only eight + States with 80 votes. But an examination of the popular vote, which was + 3,000,000 for Grant and 2,700,000 for Seymour, gave the radicals cause for + alarm, for it showed that the Democrats had more white votes than the + Republicans, whose total included nearly 700,000 blacks. To insure the + continuance of the radicals in power, the Fifteenth Amendment was framed + and sent out to the States on February 26, 1869. This amendment appeared + not only to make safe the negro + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> + majorities in the South but also gave the ballot to the negroes in a + score of Northern States and thus assured, for a time at least, + 900,000 negro voters for the Republican party. + </p> + <div class="figcenter"> +<a name="grant.jpg" id="grant.jpg"></a> +<img src="images/grant.jpg" width="504" height="524" +alt="[Illustration: Hiram Ulysses Grant]" +title="[Illustration: Hiram Ulysses Grant]" /><br /> +<span class="caption"><a href="#Illustrations">President Grant.</a><br /> +Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington.</span> + <hr /> +</div> + <p> + When Johnson's term ended and he gave place to President Grant, four + States were still unreconstructed—Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, + in which the reconstruction had failed, and Georgia, which, after + accomplishing reconstruction, had again been placed under military rule by + Congress. In Virginia, which was too near the capital for such rough work + as readmitted Arkansas and Alabama into the Union, the new constitution + was so severe in its provisions for disfranchisement that the disgusted + district commander would not authorize the expenditure necessary to have + it voted on. In Mississippi a similar constitution had failed of adoption, + and in Texas the strife of party factions, radical and moderate + Republican, had so delayed the framing of the constitution that it had not + come to a vote. + </p> + <p> + The Republican politicians, however, wanted the offices in these States, + and Congress by its resolution of February 18, 1869 directed the district + commanders to remove all civil officers who could not take the "ironclad" + oath and to appoint + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> + those who could subscribe to it. An exception, however, was made in favor + of the scalawags who had supported reconstruction and whose disabilities + had been removed by Congress. + </p> + <p> + President Grant was anxious to complete the reconstruction and recommended + to Congress that the constitutions of Virginia and Mississippi be + re-submitted to the people with a separate vote on the disfranchising + sections. Congress, now in harmony with the Executive, responded by + placing the reconstruction of the three States in the hands of the + President, but with the proviso that each State must ratify the Fifteenth + Amendment. Grant thereupon fixed a time for voting in each State and + directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the disfranchising clauses be + submitted separately. As a result, the constitutions were ratified but + proscription was voted down. The radicals secured control of Mississippi + and Texas, but a conservative combination carried Virginia and thus came + near keeping the State out of the Union. Finally, during the early months + of 1870 the three States were readmitted. + </p> + <p> + With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed. In June, + 1868, Georgia had been readmitted with the first of the reconstructed + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> + States. The state legislature at once expelled the twenty-seven negro + members, on the ground that the recent legislation and the state + constitution gave the negroes the right to vote but not to hold office. + Congress, which had already admitted the Georgia representatives, refused + to receive the senators and turned the State back to military control. In + 1869-70 Georgia was again reconstructed after a drastic purging of the + Legislature by the military commander, the reseating of the negro members, + and the ratification of both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The + State was readmitted to representation in July, 1870, after the failure of + a strong effort to extend for two years the carpetbag government of the + State. + </p> + <p> + Upon the last States to pass under the radical yoke heavier conditions + were imposed than upon the earlier ones. Not only were they required to + ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, but the "fundamental conditions" embraced, + in addition to the prohibition against future change of the suffrage, a + requirement that the negroes should never be deprived of school and + officeholding rights. + </p> + <p> + The congressional plan of reconstruction had thus been carried through by + able leaders in the face of the opposition of a united white South, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> + nearly half the North, the President, the Supreme Court, and in the + beginning a majority of Congress. This success was due to the poor + leadership of the conservatives and to the ability and solidarity of + the radicals led by Stevens and Sumner. The radicals had a definite + program; the moderates had not. The object of the radicals was to secure + the supremacy in the South by the aid of the negroes and exclusion of + whites. Was this policy politically wise? It was at least temporarily + successful. The choice offered by the radicals seemed to lie between + military rule for an indefinite period and negro suffrage; and since + most Americans found military rule distasteful, they preferred to try + negro suffrage. But, after all, negro suffrage had to be supported by + military rule, and in the end both failed completely. + </p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> + <a name="Chapter08" id="Chapter08"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER VIII.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Union League of America</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + elections of 1867-68 showed that the negroes were well organized under + the control of the radical Republican leaders and that their former + masters had none of the influence over the blacks in political matters + which had been feared by some Northern friends of the negro and had been + hoped for by such Southern leaders as Governor Patton and General Hampton. + Before 1865 the discipline of slavery, the influence of the master's + family, and of the Southern church, had sufficed to control the blacks. + But after emancipation they looked to the Federal soldiers and Union + officials as the givers of freedom and the guardians of the future. + </p> + <p> + From the Union soldiers, especially the negro troops, from the Northern + teachers, the missionaries and the organizers of negro churches, from the + Northern officials and traveling politicians, the negroes learned that + their interests were not those + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span> + of the whites. The attitude of the average white in the South often + confirmed this growing estrangement. It was difficult even for the white + leaders to explain the riots at Memphis and New Orleans. And those who + sincerely wished well for the negro and who desired to control him for + the good of both races could not possibly assure him that he was fit for + the suffrage. For even Patton and Hampton must tell him that they knew + better than he and that he should follow their advice. + </p> + <p> + The appeal made to freedmen by the Northern leaders was in every way more + forceful, because it had behind it the prestige of victory in war and for + the future it could promise anything. Until 1867 the principal agency in + bringing about the separation of the races had been the Freedmen's Bureau + which, with its authority, its courts, its rations, clothes, and its + "forty acres and a mule," did effective work in breaking down the + influence of the master. But to understand fully the almost absolute + control exercised over the blacks in 1867-68 by alien adventurers one + must examine the workings of an oath-bound society known as the Union or + Loyal League. It was this order, dominated by a few radical whites, which + organized, disciplined, and controlled the ignorant + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> + negro masses and paralyzed the influence of the conservative whites. + </p> + <p> + The Union League of America had its origin in Ohio in the fall of 1862, + when the outlook for the Union cause was gloomy. The moderate policies of + the Lincoln Administration had alienated those in favor of extreme + measures; the Confederates had won military successes in the field; the + Democrats had made some gains in the elections; the Copperheads ¹ + were actively opposed to the Washington Government; the Knights of the + Golden Circle were organizing to resist the continuance of the war; and + the Emancipation Proclamation had chilled the loyalty of many Union men, + which was everywhere at a low ebb, especially in the Northern cities. It + was to counteract these depressing influences that the Union League + movement was begun among those who were associated in the work of the + United States Sanitary Commission. Observing the threatening state of + public opinion, members of this organization proposed that "loyalty be + organized, consolidated and made effective." + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_08-1" name="footer_08-1"></a> +¹ See <i>Abraham Lincoln and the Union,</i> by Nathaniel W. + Stephenson (in <i>The Chronicles of America</i>), pp. 156-7, + 234-5</p> +</div> + <p> + The first organization was made by eleven + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> + men in Cleveland, Ohio, in November, 1862. The Philadelphia Union League + was organized a month later, and in January, 1863, the New York Union + League followed. The members were pledged to uncompromising and + unconditional loyalty to the Union, to complete subordination of + political views to this loyalty, and to the repudiation of any belief + in state rights. The other large cities followed the example of + Philadelphia and New York, and soon Leagues, connected in a loose + federation, were formed all through the North. They were social as + well as political in their character and assumed as their task the + stimulation and direction of loyal Union opinion. + </p> + <p> + As the Union armies proceeded to occupy the South, the Union League sent + its agents among the disaffected Southern people. Its agents cared for + negro refugees in the contraband camps and in the North. In such work the + League coöperated with the various Freedmen's Aid Societies, the + Department of Negro Affairs, and later with the Freedmen's Bureau. Part of + the work of the League was to distribute campaign literature, and many of + the radical pamphlets on reconstruction and the negro problem bore the + Union League imprint. The New York League sent out about seventy + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> + thousand copies of various publications, while the Philadelphia League far + surpassed this record, circulating within eight years four million five + hundred thousand copies of 144 different pamphlets. The literature + consisted largely of accounts of "Southern outrages" taken from the + reports of Bureau agents and similar sources. + </p> + <p> + With the close of the Civil War the League did not cease its active + interest in things political. It was one of the first organizations to + declare for negro suffrage and the disfranchisement of Confederates; it + held steadily to this declaration during the four years following the war; + and it continued as a sort of bureau in the radical Republican party for + the purpose of controlling the negro vote in the South. Its + representatives were found in the lobbies of Congress demanding extreme + measures, endorsing the reconstruction policies of Congress, and + condemning the course of the President. After the first year or two of + reconstruction the Leagues in the larger Northern cities began to grow + away from the strictly political Union League of America and tended to + become mere social clubs for members of the same political belief. The + eminently respectable Philadelphia and New York clubs had little in common + with + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> + the leagues of the Southern and Border States except a general + adherence to the radical program. + </p> + <p> + Even before the end of the war the League was extending its organization + into the parts of the Confederacy held by the Federal forces, admitting to + membership the army officers and the leading Unionists, though maintaining + for the sake of the latter "a discreet secrecy." With the close of the war + and the establishment of army posts over the South the League grew + rapidly. The civilians who followed the army, the Bureau agents, the + missionaries, and the Northern teachers formed one class of membership; + and the loyalists of the hill and mountain country, who had become + disaffected toward the Confederate administration and had formed such + orders as the Heroes of America, the Red String Band, and the Peace + Society, formed another class. Soon there were added to these the + deserters, a few old line Whigs who intensely disliked the Democrats, and + others who decided to cast their lot with the victors. The disaffected + politicians of the up-country, who wanted to be cared for in the + reconstruction, saw in the organization a means of dislodging from power + the political leaders of the low country. It has been estimated that + thirty per cent of the white men of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> + the hill and mountain counties of the South joined the Union League in + 1865-66. They cared little about the original objects of the order but + hoped to make it the nucleus of an anti-Democratic political organization. + </p> + <p> + But on the admission of negroes into the lodges or councils controlled by + Northern men the native white members began to withdraw. From the + beginning the Bureau agents, the teachers, and the preachers had been + holding meetings of negroes, to whom they gave advice about the problems + of freedom. Very early these advisers of the blacks grasped the + possibilities inherent in their control of the schools, the rationing + system, and the churches. By the spring of 1866 the negroes were widely + organized under this leadership, and it needed but slight change to + convert the negro meetings into local councils of the Union League. ¹ + As soon as it seemed likely that Congress would win in its struggle with + the President the guardians of the negro planned their campaign for the + control + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> + of the race. Negro leaders were organized into councils of the + League or into Union Republican Clubs. Over the South went the organizers, + until by 1868 the last negroes were gathered into the fold. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_08-2" name="footer_08-2"></a> +¹ Of these teachers of the local blacks, E. L. Godkin, + editor of the New York <i>Nation,</i> who had supported the + reconstruction acts, said: "Worse instructors for men + emerging from slavery and coming for the first time face to + face with the problems of free life than the radical + agitators who have undertaken the political guidance of the + blacks it would be hard to meet with."</p> +</div> + <p> + The native whites did not all desert the Union League when the negroes + were brought in. Where the blacks were most numerous the desertion of + whites was general, but in the regions where they were few some of the + whites remained for several years. The elections of 1868 showed a falling + off of the white radical vote from that of 1867, one measure of the extent + of loss of whites. From this time forward the order consisted mainly of + blacks with enough whites for leaders. In the Black Belt the membership of + native whites was discouraged by requiring an oath to the effect that + secession was treason. The carpetbagger had found that he could control + the negro without the help of the scalawag. The League organization was + soon extended and centralized; in every black district there was a + Council; for the State there was a Grand Council; and for the United + States there was a National Grand Council with headquarters in New York + City. + </p> + <p> + The influence of the League over the negro was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> + due in large degree to the mysterious secrecy of the meetings, the weird + initiation ceremony that made him feel fearfully good from his head to his + heels, the imposing ritual, and the songs. The ritual, it is said, was not + used in the North; it was probably adopted for the particular benefit of + the African. The would-be Leaguer was informed that the emblems of the + order were the altar, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the + Constitution of the United States, the flag of the Union, censer, sword, + gavel, ballot box, sickle, shuttle, anvil, and other emblems of industry. + He was told to the accompaniment of clanking chains and groans that the + objects of the order were to preserve liberty, to perpetuate the Union, + to maintain the laws and the Constitution, to secure the ascendancy of + American institutions, to protect, defend, and strengthen all loyal men + and members of the Union League in all rights of person and property, to + demand the elevation of labor, to aid in the education of laboring men, + and to teach the duties of American citizenship. This enumeration of the + objects of the League sounded well and was impressive. At this point the + negro was always willing to take an oath of secrecy, after which he was + asked to swear with a solemn oath to support the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> + principles of the Declaration of Independence, to pledge himself to resist + all attempts to overthrow the United States, to strive for the maintenance + of liberty, the elevation of labor, the education of all people in the + duties of citizenship, to practice friendship and charity to all of the + order, and to support for election or appointment to office only such men + as were supporters of these principles and measures. + </p> + <p> + The council then sang <i>Hail, Columbia!</i> and <i>The Star Spangled + Banner</i>, after which an official lectured the candidates, saying that + though the designs of traitors had been thwarted, there were yet to be + secured legislative triumphs and the complete ascendancy of the true + principles of popular government, equal liberty, education and elevation + of the workmen, and the overthrow at the ballot box of the old oligarchy + of political leaders. After prayer by the chaplain, the room was darkened, + alcohol on salt flared up with a ghastly light as the "fire of liberty," + and the members joined hands in a circle around the candidate, who was + made to place one hand on the flag and, with the other raised, swear + again to support the government and to elect true Union men to office. + Then placing his hand on a Bible, for the third time he + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> + swore to keep his oath, and repeated after the president "the Freedmen's + Pledge": "To defend and perpetuate freedom and the Union, I pledge my + life, my fortune, and my sacred honor. So help me God!" <i>John Brown's + Body</i> was then sung, the president charged the members in a long + speech concerning the principles of the order, and the marshal instructed + the neophyte in the signs. To pass one's self as a Leaguer, the "Four + L's" had to be given: (1) with right hand raised to heaven, thumb and + third finger touching ends over palm, pronounce "Liberty"; (2) bring the + hand down over the shoulder and say "Lincoln"; (3) drop the hand open at + the side and say "Loyal"; (4) catch the thumb in the vest or in the + waistband and pronounce "League." This ceremony of initiation proved a + most effective means of impressing and controlling the negro through his + love and fear of secret, mysterious, and midnight mummery. An oath taken + in daylight might be forgotten before the next day; not so an oath taken + in the dead of night under such impressive circumstances. After passing + through the ordeal, the negro usually remained faithful. + </p> + <p> + In each populous precinct there was at least one council of the League, + and always one for blacks. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> + In each town or city there were two councils, one for the whites, and + another, with white officers, for the blacks. The council met once a week, + sometimes oftener, nearly always at night, and in a negro church or + schoolhouse. Guards, armed with rifles and shotguns, were stationed about + the place of meeting in order to keep away intruders. Members of some + councils made it a practice to attend the meetings armed as if for battle. + In these meetings the negroes listened to inflammatory speeches by the + would-be statesmen of the new régime; here they were drilled in a + passionate conviction that their interests and those of the Southern + whites were eternally at war. + </p> + <p> + White men who joined the order before the negroes were admitted and who + left when the latter became members asserted that the negroes were taught + in these meetings that the only way to have peace and plenty, to get "the + forty acres and a mule," was to kill some of the leading whites in each + community as a warning to others. In North Carolina twenty-eight barns + were burned in one county by negroes who believed that Governor Holden, + the head of the State League, had ordered it. The council in Tuscumbia, + Alabama, received advice from Memphis to use the torch + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> + because the blacks were at war with the white race. The advice was taken. + Three men went in front of the council as an advance guard, three followed + with coal oil and fire, and others guarded the rear. The plan was to burn + the whole town, but first one negro and then another insisted on having + some white man's house spared because "he is a good man." In the end no + residences were burned, and a happy compromise was effected by burning + the Female Academy. Three of the leaders were afterwards lynched. + </p> + <p> + The general belief of the whites was that the ultimate object of the order + was to secure political power and thus bring about on a large scale the + confiscation of the property of Confederates, and meanwhile to appropriate + and destroy the property of their political opponents wherever possible. + Chicken houses, pigpens, vegetable gardens, and orchards were visited by + members returning from the midnight conclaves. During the presidential + campaign of 1868 the North Carolina League sent out circular instructions + to the blacks advising them to drill regularly and to join the militia, + for if Grant were not elected the negroes would go back to slavery; if he + were elected, the negroes were to have farms, mules, and offices. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> + As soon as possible after the war the negroes had supplied themselves with + guns and dogs as badges of freedom. They carried their guns to the League + meetings, often marching in military formation, went through the drill + there, marched home again along the roads, shouting, firing, and indulging + in boasts and threats against persons whom they disliked. Later, military + parades in the daytime were much favored. Several hundred negroes would + march up and down the streets, abusing whites, and shoving them off the + sidewalk or out of the road. But on the whole, there was very little + actual violence, though the whites were much alarmed at times. That + outrages were comparatively few was due, not to any sensible teachings of + the leaders, but to the fundamental good nature of the blacks, who were + generally content with mere impudence. + </p> + <p> + The relations between the races, indeed, continued on the whole to be + friendly until 1867-68. For a while, in some localities before the advent + of the League, and in others where the Bureau was conducted by native + magistrates, the negroes looked to their old masters for guidance and + advice; and the latter, for the good of both races, were most eager to + retain a moral control over the blacks. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span> + They arranged barbecues and + picnics for the negroes, made speeches, gave good advice, and believed + that everything promised well. Sometimes the negroes themselves arranged + the festival and invited prominent whites, for whom a separate table + attended by negro waiters was reserved; and after dinner there followed + speeches by both whites and blacks. + </p> + <p> + With the organization of the League, the negroes grew more reserved, and + finally became openly unfriendly to the whites. The League alone, however, + was not responsible for this change. The League and the Bureau had to some + extent the same personnel, and it is frequently impossible to distinguish + clearly between the influence of the two. In many ways the League was + simply the political side of the Bureau. The preaching and teaching + missionaries were also at work. And apart from the organized influences at + work, the poor whites never laid aside their hostility towards the blacks, + bond or free. + </p> + <p> + When the campaigns grew exciting, the discipline of the order was used to + prevent the negroes from attending Democratic meetings and hearing + Democratic speakers. The leaders even went farther and forbade the + attendance of the blacks + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> + at political meetings where the speakers were not endorsed by the League. + Almost invariably the scalawag disliked the Leaguer, black or white, and + as a political teacher often found himself proscribed by the League. At a + Republican mass meeting in Alabama a white Republican who wanted to make + a speech was shouted down by the negroes because he was "opposed to the + Loyal League." He then went to another place to speak but was followed by + the crowd, which refused to allow him to say anything. All Republicans in + good standing had to join the League and swear that secession was + treason—a rather stiff dose for the scalawag. Judge (later Governor) + David P. Lewis, of Alabama, was a member for a short while but he soon + became disgusted and published a denunciation of the order. Albion W. + Tourgée, the author, a radical judge, was the first chief of the + League in North Carolina and was succeeded by Governor Holden. In Alabama, + Generals Swayne, Spencer, and Warner, all candidates for the United + States Senate, hastened to join the order. + </p> + <p> + As soon as a candidate was nominated by the League, it was the duty of + every member to support him actively. Failure to do so resulted in a fine + or other more severe punishment, and members + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> + who had been expelled were still considered under the control of the + officials. The League was, in fact, the machine of the radical party, + and all candidates had to be governed by its edicts. As the Montgomery + Council declared, the Union League was "the right arm of the + Union-Republican party in the United States." + </p> + <p> + Every negro was <i>ex colore</i> a member or under the control of the + League. In the opinion of the League, white Democrats were bad enough, + but black Democrats were not to be tolerated. It was almost necessary, + as a measure of personal safety, for each black to support the radical + program. It was possible in some cases for a negro to refrain from + taking an active part in political affairs. He might even fail to vote. + But it was actually dangerous for a black to be a Democrat; that is, + to try to follow his old master in politics. The whites in many cases + were forced to advise their few faithful black friends to vote the + radical ticket in order to escape mistreatment. Those who showed + Democratic leanings were proscribed in negro society and expelled + from negro churches; the negro women would not "proshay" (appreciate) + a black Democrat. Such a one was sure to find that influence was being + brought to bear upon + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> + his dusky sweetheart or his wife + to cause him to see the error of his ways, and persistent adherence to the + white party would result in his losing her. The women were converted to + radicalism before the men, and they almost invariably used their influence + strongly in behalf of the League. If moral suasion failed to cause the + delinquent to see the light, other methods were used. Threats were common + and usually sufficed. Fines were levied by the League on recalcitrant + members. In case of the more stubborn, a sound beating was effective to + bring about a change of heart. The offending party was "bucked and + gagged," or he was tied by the thumbs and thrashed. Usually the sufferer + was too afraid to complain of the way he was treated. + </p> + <p> + Some of the methods of the Loyal League were similar to those of the later + Ku Klux Klan. Anonymous warnings were sent to obnoxious individuals, + houses were burned, notices were posted at night in public places and on + the houses of persons who had incurred the hostility of the order. In + order to destroy the influence of the whites where kindly relations still + existed, an "exodus order" issued through the League directed all members + to leave their old homes and obtain work elsewhere. Some of the blacks + were loath to comply with this order, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> + but to remonstrances from the whites the usual reply was: "De word done + sent to de League. We got to go." For special meetings the negroes were + in some regions called together by signal guns. In this way the call + for a gathering went out over a county in a few minutes and a few hours + later nearly all the members in the county assembled at the appointed + place. + </p> + <p> + Negroes as organizing agents were inclined to go to extremes and for that + reason were not so much used. In Bullock County, Alabama, a council of the + League was organized under the direction of a negro emissary, who + proceeded to assume the government of the community. A list of crimes and + punishments was adopted, a court with various officials was established, + and during the night the negroes who opposed the new régime were + arrested. But the black sheriff and his deputy were in turn arrested by + the civil authorities. The negroes then organized for resistance, flocked + into the county seat, and threatened to exterminate the whites and take + possession of the county. Their agents visited the plantations and forced + the laborers to join them by showing orders purporting to be from General + Swayne, the commander in the State, giving them the authority to kill all + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> + who resisted them. Swayne, however, sent out detachments of troops and + arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and the League government collapsed. + </p> + <p> + After it was seen that existing political institutions were to be + overturned in the process of reconstruction, the white councils of the + League and, to a certain extent, the negro councils were converted into + training schools for the leaders of the new party soon to be formed in the + State by act of Congress. The few whites who were in control were + unwilling to admit more white members to share in the division of the + spoils; terms of admission became more stringent, and, especially after + the passage of the reconstruction acts in March, 1867, many white + applicants were rejected. The alien element from the North was in control + and as a result, where the blacks were numerous, the largest plums fell + to the carpetbaggers. The negro leaders—the politicians, preachers, + and teachers—trained in the League acted as subordinates to the + whites and were sent out to drum up the country negroes when elections + drew near. The negroes were given minor positions when offices were more + plentiful than carpetbaggers. Later, after some complaint, a larger share + of the offices fell to them. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span> + The League counted its largest white membership in 1865-66, and after that + date it steadily decreased. The largest negro membership was recorded in + 1867 and 1868. The total membership was never made known. In North + Carolina the order claimed from seventy-five thousand to one hundred and + twenty-five thousand members; in States with larger negro populations the + membership was probably quite as large. After the election of 1868 only + the councils in the towns remained active, many of them transformed into + political clubs, loosely organized under local political leaders. The + plantation negro needed less looking after, and except in the largest + towns he became a kind of visiting member of the council in the town. + The League as a political organization gradually died out by 1870. ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_08-3" name="footer_08-3"></a> +¹ The Ku Klux Klan had much to do with the decline of the + organization. The League as the ally and successor of the + Freedmen's Bureau was one of the causes of the Ku Klux + movement, because it helped to create the conditions which + made such a movement inevitable. As early as 1870 the + radical leaders missed the support formerly given by the + League, and an urgent appeal was sent out all over the South + from headquarters in New York advocating its reëstablishment + to assist in carrying the elections of 1870.</p> +</div> + <p> + The League had served its purpose. It had enabled a few outsiders to + control the negro by separating the races politically and it had compelled + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span> + the negroes to vote as radicals for several years, when without its + influence they would either not have voted at all or would have voted as + Democrats along with their former masters. The order was necessary to the + existence of the radical party in the Black Belt. No ordinary political + organization could have welded the blacks into a solid party. The + Freedmen's Bureau, which had much influence over the negroes, was too weak + in numbers to control the negroes in politics. The League finally absorbed + the personnel of the Bureau and turned its prestige and its organization + to political advantage. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> + <a name="Chapter09" id="Chapter09"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER IX.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">Church and School</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">Reconstruction</span> + in the State was closely related to reconstruction in the + churches and the schools. Here also were to be found the same hostile + elements: negro and white, Unionist and Confederate, victor and + vanquished. The church was at that time an important institution in the + South, more so than in the North, and in both sections more important than + it is today. It was inevitable, therefore, that ecclesiastical + reconstruction should give rise to bitter feelings. + </p> + <p> + Something should be said of conditions in the churches when the Federal + armies occupied the land. The Southern organizations had lost many + ministers and many of their members, and frequently their buildings were + used as hospitals or had been destroyed. Their administration was + disorganized and their treasuries were empty. The Unionists, scattered + here and there but numerous + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> + in the mountain districts, no longer wished to attend the Southern + churches. + </p> + <p> + The military censorship in church matters, which continued for a year in + some districts, was irritating, especially in the Border States and in the + Union districts where Northern preachers installed by the army were + endeavoring to remain against the will of the people. Mobs sometimes drove + them out; others were left to preach to empty houses or to a few Unionists + and officers, while the congregation withdrew to build a new church. The + problems of negro membership in the white churches and of the future + relations of the Northern and Southern denominations were pressing for + settlement. + </p> + <p> + All Northern organizations acted in 1865 upon the assumption that a + reunion of the churches must take place and that the divisions existing + before the war should not be continued, since slavery, the cause of the + division, had been destroyed. But they insisted that the reunion must take + place upon terms named by the "loyal" churches, that the negroes must also + come under "loyal" religious direction, and that tests must be applied to + the Confederate sinners asking for admission, in order that the enormity + of their + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span> + crimes should be made plain to them. But this policy did not succeed. The + Confederates objected to being treated as "rebels and traitors" and to + "sitting upon stools of repentance" before they should be received again + into the fold. + </p> + <p> + Only two denominations were reunited—the Methodist Protestant, the + northern section of which came over to the southern, and the Protestant + Episcopal, in which moderate counsels prevailed and into which Southerners + were welcomed back. The Southern Baptists maintained their separate + existence and reorganized the Southern Baptist Convention, to which came + many of the Baptist associations in the Border States; the Catholics did + not divide before 1861 and therefore had no reconstruction problems to + solve; and the smaller denominations maintained the organizations which + they had before 1861. A Unionist preacher testified before the Joint + Committee on Reconstruction that even the Southern Quakers "are about as + decided in regard to the respectability of secession as any other class of + people." + </p> + <p> + Two other great Southern churches, the Presbyterian and the Methodist + Episcopal, grew stronger after the Civil War. The tendency toward reunion + of the Presbyterians was checked + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> + when one Northern branch declared as "a condition precedent to the + admission of southern applicants that these confess as sinful all opinions + before held in regard to slavery, nullification, rebellion and slavery, + and stigmatize secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the southern + churches as a schism." Another Northern group declared that Southern + ministers must be placed on probation and must either prove their loyalty + or profess repentance for disloyalty and repudiate their former opinions. + As a result several Presbyterian bodies in the South joined in a strong + union, to which also adhered the synods of several Border States. + </p> + <p> + The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was confronted with conditions + similar to those which prevented the reunion of the Presbyterians. The + Northern church, according to the declaration of its authorities, also + came down to divide the spoils and to "disintegrate and absorb" the + "schismatic" Southern churches. Already many Southern pulpits were filled + with Northern Methodist ministers placed there under military protection; + and when they finally realized that reunion was not possible, these + Methodist worthies resolved to occupy the late Confederacy as a mission + field and to organize congregations of blacks and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> + whites who were "not tainted with treason." Bishops and clergymen charged + with this work carried it on vigorously for a few years in close + connection with political reconstruction. + </p> + <p> + The activities of the Northern Methodists stimulated the Southern + Methodists to a quick reorganization. The surviving bishops met in August, + 1865, and bound together their shaken church. In reply to suggestions of + reunion they asserted that the Northern Methodists had become "incurably + radical," were too much involved in politics, and, further, that they had, + without right, seized and were still holding Southern church buildings. + They objected also to the way the Northern church referred to the + Southerners as "schismatics" and to the Southern church as one built on + slavery and therefore, now that slavery was gone, to be reconstructed. The + bishops warned their people against the missionary efforts of the Northern + brethren and against the attempts to "disintegrate and absorb" Methodism + in the South. Within five years after the war the Methodist Episcopal + Church, South, was greatly increased in numbers by the accession of + conferences in Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and even from above + the Ohio, while the Northern + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> + Methodist Church was able to organize only a few white congregations + outside of the stronger Unionist districts, but continued to labor in + the South as a missionary field. ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_09-1" name="footer_09-1"></a> +¹ The church situation after the war was well described in + 1866 by an editorial writer in the <i>Nation</i> who pointed out + that the Northern churches thought the South determined to + make the religious division permanent, though "slavery no + longer furnishes a pretext for separation." "Too much pains + were taken to bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and + irritating offers of reconciliation are made by the Northern + churches, all based on the assumption that the South has not + only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. We + expect them to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers + of forgiveness. But the Southern people look upon a 'loyal' + missionary as a political emissary, and 'loyal' men do not + at present possess the necessary qualifications for + evangelizing the Southerners or softening their hearts, and + are sure not to succeed in doing so. We look upon their + defeat as retribution and expect them to do the same. It + will do no good if we tell the Southerner that 'we will + forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, + offer to pray with them, preach with them, and labor with + them over their hideous sins.'"</p> +</div> + <p> + But if the large Southern churches held their white membership and even + gained in numbers and territory, they fought a losing fight to retain + their black members. It was assumed by Northern ecclesiastics that whether + a reunion of whites took place or not, the negroes would receive spiritual + guidance from the North. This was necessary, they said, because the + Southern whites were ignorant and impoverished and because "the state of + mind among even the best classes of Southern + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> + whites rendered them incapable … of doing justice to the people + whom they had so long persistently wronged." Further, it was also + necessary for political reasons to remove the negroes from Southern + religious control. + </p> + <p> + For obvious reasons, however, the Southern churches wanted to hold their + negro members. They declared themselves in favor of negro education and of + better organized religious work among the blacks, and made every sort of + accommodation to hold them. The Baptists organized separate congregations, + with white or black pastors as desired, and associations of black + churches. In 1866 the Methodist General Conference authorized separate + congregations, quarterly conferences, annual conferences, even a separate + jurisdiction, with negro preachers, presiding elders, and bishops—but + all to no avail. Every Northern political, religious, or military agency + in the South worked for separation, and negro preachers were not long in + seeing the greater advantages which they would have in independent + churches. + </p> + <p> + Much of the separate organization was accomplished in mutual good will, + particularly in the Baptist ranks. The Reverend I. T. Tichenor, a + prominent Baptist minister, has described the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> + process as it took place in the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. The + church had nine hundred members, of whom six hundred were black. The + negroes received a regular organization of their own under the supervision + of the white pastors. When a separation of the two bodies was later deemed + desirable, it was inaugurated by a conference of the negroes which passed + a resolution couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the + division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. + The white church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies + united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the negroes. Until the + new church was completed, both congregations continued to occupy jointly + the old house of worship. The new house was paid for in large measure by + the white members of the church and by individuals in the community. As + soon as it was completed the colored church moved into it with its + pastor, board of deacons, committees of all sorts, and the whole machinery + of church life went into action without a jar. Similar accommodations + occurred in all the States of the South. + </p> + <p> + The Methodists lost the greater part of their negro membership to two + organizations which + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> + came down from the North in 1865—the African Methodist Episcopal + Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion. Large numbers + also went over to the Northern Methodist Church. After losing nearly + three hundred thousand members, the Southern Methodists came to the + conclusion that the remaining seventy-eight thousand negroes would be + more comfortable in a separate organization and therefore began in 1866 + the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, with bishops, conferences, and all + the accompaniments of the parent Methodist Church, which continued to give + friendly aid but exercised no control. For many years the Colored + Methodist Church was under fire from the other negro denominations, who + called it the "rebel," the "Democratic," the "old slavery" church. + </p> + <p> + The negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterians were similarly set off + into a small African organization. The Southern Presbyterians and the + Episcopalians established separate congregations and missions under white + supervision but sanctioned no independent negro organization. Consequently + the negroes soon deserted these churches and went with their own kind. + </p> + <p> + Resentment at the methods employed by the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> + Northern religious carpetbaggers was strong among the Southern whites. + "Emissaries of Christ and the radical party" they were called by one + Alabama leader. Governor Lindsay of the same State asserted that the + Northern missionaries caused race hatred by teaching the negroes to + regard the whites as their natural enemies, who, if possible, would put + them back in slavery. Others were charged with teaching that to be on the + safe side, the blacks should get into a Northern church, and that "Christ + died for negroes and Yankees, not for rebels." + </p> + <p> + The scalawags, also, developed a dislike of the Northern church work among + the negroes and it was impossible to organize mixed congregations. Of the + Reverend A. S. Lakin, a well-known agent of the Northern Methodist + Church in Alabama, Nicholas Davis, a North Alabama Unionist and scalawag, + said to the Ku Klux Committee: "The character of his [Lakin's] speech was + this: to teach the negroes that every man that was born and raised in the + Southern country was their enemy, that there was no use trusting them, no + matter what they said—if they said they were for the Union or + anything else. 'No use talking, they are your enemies.' And he made a + pretty good speech, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> + too; awful; a hell of a one; … inflammatory and game, too.… + It was enough to provoke the devil. Did all the mischief he could … + I tell you, that old fellow is a hell of an old rascal." + </p> + <p> + For a time the white churches were annoyed by intrusions of strange blacks + set on by those who were bent on separating the races. Frequently there + were feuds in white or black congregations over the question of joining + some Northern body. Disputes over church property also arose and continued + for years. Lakin, referred to above, was charged with "stealing" negro + congregations and uniting them with the Cincinnati Conference without + their knowledge. The negroes were urged to demand title to all buildings + formerly used for negro worship, and the Constitutional Convention of + Alabama in 1867 directed that such property must be turned over to them + when claimed. + </p> + <p> + The agents of the Northern churches were not greatly different from other + carpetbaggers and adventurers taking advantage of the general confusion to + seize a little power. Many were unscrupulous; others, sincere and honest + but narrow, bigoted, and intolerant, filled with distrust of the Southern + whites and with corresponding confidence in the blacks and in themselves. + The + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> + missionary and church publications were quite as severe on the + Southern people as any radical Congressman. The publications of the + Freedmen's Aid Society furnish illustrations of the feelings and views of + those engaged in the Southern work. They in turn were made to feel the + effects of a merciless social proscription. For this some of them cared + not at all, while others or their families felt it keenly. One woman + missionary wrote that she was delighted when a Southern white would speak + to her. A preacher in Virginia declared that "the females, those + especially whose pride has been humbled, are more intense in their + bitterness and endeavor to keep up a social ostracism against Union and + Northern people." The Ku Klux raids were directed against preachers and + congregations whose conduct was disagreeable to the whites. Lakin asserted + that while he was conducting a great revival meeting among the hills of + northern Alabama, Governor Smith and other prominent and sinful scalawag + politicians were there "under conviction" and about to become converted. + But in came the Klan and the congregation scattered. Smith and the others + were so angry and frightened that their good feelings were dissipated, and + the devil reëntered them, so that Lakin said he was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> + never able to "get a hold on them" again. For the souls lost that night he + held the Klan responsible. Lakin told several marvelous stories of his + hairbreadth escapes from death by assassination which, if true, would be + enough to ruin the reputation of northern Alabama men for marksmanship. + </p> + <p> + The reconstruction ended with conditions in the churches similar to those + in politics: the races were separated and unfriendly; Northern and + Southern church organizations were divided; and between them, especially + in the border and mountain districts, there existed factional quarrels of + a political origin, for every Northern Methodist was a Republican and + every Southern Methodist was a Democrat. + </p> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + The schools of the South, like the churches and political institutions, + were thrown into the melting pot of reconstruction. The spirit in which + the work was begun may be judged from the tone of the addresses made at a + meeting of the National Teachers Association in 1865. The president, S. S. + Greene, declared that "the old slave States are to be the new missionary + ground for the national school teacher." Francis Wayland, the former + president of Brown University, remarked + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span> + that "it has been a war of education and patriotism against ignorance and + barbarism." President Hill of Harvard spoke of the "new work of spreading + knowledge and intellectual culture over the regions that sat in darkness." + Other speakers asserted that the leading Southern whites were as much + opposed to free schools as to free governments and "we must treat them as + western farmers do the stumps in their clearings, work around them and let + them rot out"; that the majority of the whites were more ignorant than the + slaves; and that the negro must be educated and strengthened against "the + wiles, the guile, and hate of his baffled masters and their minions." The + New England Freedmen's Aid Society considered it necessary to educate the + negro "as a counteracting influence against the evil councils and designs + of the white freemen." + </p> + <p> + The tasks that confronted the Southern States in 1865-67 were two: first, + to restore the shattered school systems of the whites; and second, to + arrange for the education of the negroes. Education of the negro slave had + been looked upon as dangerous and had been generally forbidden. A small + number of negroes could read and write, but there were at the close of the + war no schools + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span> + for the children. Before 1861 each State had developed at least the + outlines of a school system. Though hindered in development by the + sparseness of the population and by the prevalence in some districts + of the Virginia doctrine that free schools were only for the poor, public + schools were nevertheless in existence in 1861. Academies and colleges, + however, were thronged with students. When the war ended, the public + schools were disorganized, and the private academies and the colleges were + closed. Teachers and students had been dispersed; buildings had been + burned or used for hospitals and laboratories; and public libraries had + virtually disappeared. + </p> + <p> + The colleges made efforts to open in the fall of 1865. Only one student + presented himself at the University of Alabama for matriculation; but + before June, 1866, the stronger colleges were again in operation. The + public or semi-public schools for the whites also opened in the fall. In + the cities where Federal military authorities had brought about the + employment of Northern teachers, there was some friction. In New Orleans, + for example, the teachers required the children to sing Northern songs and + patriotic airs. When the Confederates were restored to power these + teachers were dismissed. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> + The movement toward negro education was general throughout the South. + Among the blacks themselves there was an intense desire to learn. They + wished to read the Bible, to be preachers, to be as the old master and not + have to work. Day and night and Sunday they crowded the schools. According + to an observer, ¹ "not only are individuals seen at study, and under + the most untoward circumstances, but in very many places I have found + what I will call 'native schools,' often rude and very imperfect, but + there they are, a group, perhaps, of all ages, trying to learn. Some young + man, some woman, or old preacher, in cellar, or shed, or corner of a negro + meeting-house, with the alphabet in hand, or a town spelling-book, is + their teacher. All are full of enthusiasm with the new knowledge the book + is imparting to them." + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_09-2" name="footer_09-2"></a> +¹ J. W. Alvord, Superintendent of Schools for the Freedmen's + Bureau, 1866.</p> +</div> + + <p> + Not only did the negroes want schooling, but both the North and the South + proposed to give it to them. Neither side was actuated entirely by + altruistic motives. A Hampton Institute teacher in later days remarked: + "When the combat was over and the Yankee school-ma'ams followed in the + train of the northern armies, the business of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> + educating the negroes was a continuation of hostilities against the + vanquished and was so regarded to a considerable extent on both sides." + </p> + <p> + The Southern churches, through their bishops and clergy, the newspapers, + and prominent individuals such as J. L. M. Curry, John B. + Gordon, J. L. Orr, Governors Brown, Moore, and Patton, came out in + favor of negro education. Of this movement General Swayne said: "Quite + early … the several religious denominations took strong ground in + favor of the education of the freedmen. The principal argument was an + appeal to sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being + inevitable, the influence which must come from it be realized by others; + but it is believed that this was but the shield and weapon which men of + unselfish principle found necessary at first." The newspapers took the + attitude that the Southern whites should teach the negroes because it was + their duty, because it was good policy, and because if they did not do so + some one else would. The <i>Advertiser</i> of Montgomery stated that + education was a danger in slavery times but that under freedom ignorance + became a danger. For a time there were numerous schools taught by crippled + Confederates and by Southern women. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> + But the education of the negro, like his religious training, was taken + from the control of the Southern white and was placed under the direction + of the Northern teachers and missionaries who swarmed into the country + under the fostering care of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Northern churches, + and the various Freedmen's Aid Societies. In three years the Bureau spent + six million dollars on negro schools and everywhere it exercised + supervision over them. The teachers pursued a policy akin to that of the + religious leaders. One Southerner likened them to the "plagues of Egypt," + another described them as "saints, fools, incendiaries, fakirs, and plain + business men and women." A Southern woman remarked that "their spirit was + often high and noble so far as the black man's elevation was concerned, + but toward the white it was bitter, judicial, and unrelenting." The + Northern teachers were charged with ignorance of social conditions, with + fraternizing with the blacks, and with teaching them that the Southerners + were traitors, "murderers of Lincoln," who had been cruel taskmasters and + who now wanted to restore servitude. + </p> + <p> + The reaction against negro education, which began to show itself before + reconstruction was inaugurated, found expression in the view of most + whites + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span> + that "schooling ruins a negro." A more intelligent opinion was that + of J. L. M. Curry, a lifelong advocate of negro education: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + It is not just to condemn the negro for the education which he received + in the early years after the war. That was the period of reconstruction, + the saturnalia of misgovernment, the greatest possible hindrance to the + progress of the freedmen.… The education was unsettling, + demoralizing, [and it] pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as a quick + method of reversing social and political conditions. Nothing could have + been better devised for deluding the poor negro and making him the tool, + the slave of corrupt taskmasters. Education is a natural consequence of + citizenship and enfranchisement … of freedom and humanity. But with + deliberate purpose to subject the Southern States to negro domination, + and secure the States permanently for partisan ends, the education adopted + was contrary to common-sense, to human experience, to all noble purposes. + The curriculum was for a people in the highest degree of civilization; the + aptitude and capabilities and needs of the negro were wholly disregarded. + Especial stress was laid on classics and liberal culture to bring the race + <i>per saltum</i> to the same plane with their former masters, and realize + the theory of social and political equality. A race more highly civilized, + with best heredities and environments, could not have been coddled with + more disregard of all the teachings of human history and the necessities + of the race. Colleges and universities, established and conducted by the + Freedmen's Bureau and Northern churches and societies, sprang up like + mushrooms, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span> + and the teachers, ignorant, fanatical, without self-poise, + proceeded to make all possible mischief. It is irrational, cruel, to hold + the negro, under such strange conditions, responsible for all the ill + consequences of bad education, unwise teachers, reconstruction villainies, + and partisan schemes. ¹ + </p> + </blockquote> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_09-3" name="footer_09-3"></a> +¹ Quoted in <i>Proceedings</i> of the Montgomery Conference on + Race Problems (1900), p. 128.</p> +</div> + <p> + Education was to be looked upon as a handmaid to a thorough + reconstruction, and its general character and aim were determined by the + Northern teachers. Each convention framed a more or less complicated + school system and undertook to provide for its support. The negroes in the + conventions were anxious for free schools; the conservatives were willing; + but the carpetbaggers and a few mulatto leaders insisted in several States + upon mixed schools. Only in Louisiana and South Carolina did the + constitutions actually forbid separate schools; in Mississippi, Florida, + Alabama, and Arkansas the question was left open, to the embarrassment of + the whites. Generally the blacks showed no desire for mixed schools unless + urged to it by the carpetbaggers. In the South Carolina convention a + mulatto thus argued in favor of mixed schools: "The gentleman from + Newberry said he was afraid we were taking a wrong + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span> + course to remove these + prejudices. The most natural method to effect this object would be to + allow children when five or six years of age to mingle in schools together + and associate generally. Under such training, prejudice must eventually + die out; but if we postpone it until they become men and women, prejudice + will be so established that no mortal can obliterate it. This, I think, is + a sufficient reply to the argument of the gentleman." + </p> + <p> + The state systems were top-heavy with administrative machinery and were + officered by incompetent and corrupt officials. Such men as Cloud in + Alabama, Cardozo in Mississippi, Conway in Louisiana, and Jillson in South + Carolina are fair samples of them. Much of the personnel was taken over + from the Bureau teaching force. The school officials were no better than + the other officeholders. + </p> + <p> + The first result of the attempt to use the schools as an instrument of + reconstruction ended in the ruin of several state universities. The + faculties of the Universities of North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama + were made radical and the institutions thereupon declined to nothing. The + negroes, unable to control the faculty of the University of South + Carolina, forced negro students in and thus + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> + got possession. In Louisiana the radical Legislature cut off all funds + because the university would not admit negroes. The establishment of the + land grant colleges was an occasion for corruption and embezzlement. + </p> + <p> + The common schools were used for radical ends. The funds set aside for + them by the state constitutions or appropriated by the legislatures for + these schools seldom reached their destination without being lessened by + embezzlement or by plain stealing. Frequently the auditor, or the + treasurer, or even the Legislature diverted the school funds to other + purposes. Suffice it to say that all of the reconstruction systems broke + down financially after a brief existence. + </p> + <p> + The mixed school provisions in Louisiana and South Carolina and the + uncertainty of the educational situation in other States caused white + children to stay away from the public schools. For several years the + negroes were better provided than the whites, having for themselves both + all the public schools and also those supported by private benevolence. In + Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina the whites could get no money + for schoolhouses, while large sums were spent on negro schools. The + Peabody Board, then recently + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> + inaugurated, ¹ refused to coöperate with school officials in the + mixed school States and, when criticized, replied: "It is well known + that we are helping the white children of Louisiana as being the more + destitute from the fact of their unwillingness to attend mixed schools." + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_09-4" name="footer_09-4"></a> +¹ To administer the fund bequeathed by George Peabody of + Massachusetts to promote education in the Southern States. + See <i>The New South,</i> by Holland Thompson (in <i>The Chronicles + of America</i>).</p> +</div> + + <p> + As was to be expected the whites criticized the attitude of the school + officials, disapproved of the attempts made in the schools to teach the + children radical ideas, and objected to the contents of the history texts + and the "Freedmen's Readers." A white school board in Mississippi, by + advertising for a Democratic teacher for a negro school, drew the fire of + a radical editor who inquired: "What is the motive by which this call for + a 'competent Democratic teacher' is prompted? The most damning that has + ever moved the heart of man. It is to use the vote and action of a human + being as a means by which to enslave him. The treachery and villainy of + these rebels stands without parallel in the history of men." + </p> + <p> + A negro politician has left this account of a radical recitation in a + Florida negro school: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> + After finishing the arithmetic lesson they must next go through the + catechism: + </p> + <p> + "Who is the 'Publican Government of the State of Florida?" + <span class="answer">Answer</span>: "Governor Starns." + </p> + <p> + "Who made him Governor?" + <span class="answer">Answer</span>: "The colored people." + </p> + <p> + "Who is trying to get him out of his seat?" + <span class="answer">Answer</span>: "The Democrats, Conover, and some + white and black Liberal Republicans." + </p> + <p> + "What should the colored people do with the men who is trying to get + Governor Starns out of his seat?" + <span class="answer">Answer</span>: "They should kill them." … + </p> + <p> + This was done that the patrons, some of whom could not read, would be + impressed by the expressions of their children, and would be ready to put + any one to death who would come out into the country and say anything + against Governor Starns. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + The native white teachers soon dropped out of negro schools, and those + from the North met with the same social persecution as the white church + workers. The White League and Ku Klux Klan drove off obnoxious teachers, + whipped some, burned negro schoolhouses, and in various other ways + manifested the reaction which was rousing the whites against negro + schools. + </p> + <p> + The several agencies working for negro education gave some training to + hundreds of thousands of blacks, but the whites asserted that, like the + church work, it was based on a wrong spirit and resulted in evil as well + as in good. Free schools + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> + failed in reconstruction because of the + dishonesty or incompetence of the authorities and because of the unsettled + race question. It was not until the turn of the century that the white + schools were again as good as they had been before 1861. After the + reconstruction native whites as teachers of negro schools were impossible + in most places. The hostile feelings of the whites resulted and still + result in a limitation of negro schools. The best thing for negro schools + that came out of reconstruction was Armstrong's Hampton Institute program, + which, however, was quite opposed to the spirit of reconstruction + education. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> + <a name="Chapter10" id="Chapter10"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER X.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">Carpetbag and Negro Rule</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + Southern States reconstructed by Congress were subject for periods of + varying length to governments designed by radical Northerners and imposed + by elements thrown to the surface in the upheaval of Southern society. + Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina each had a brief experience with + these governments; other States escaped after four or five years, while + Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida were not delivered from this + domination until 1876. The States which contained large numbers of negroes + had, on the whole, the worst experience. Here the officials were ignorant + or corrupt, frauds upon the public were the rule, not the exception, and + all of the reconstruction governments were so conducted that they could + secure no support from the respectable elements of the electorate. + </p> + <p> + The fundamental cause of the failure of these + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span> + governments was the character of the new ruling class. Every State, + except perhaps Virginia, was under the control of a few able leaders + from the North generally called carpetbaggers and of a few native + white radicals contemptuously designated scalawags. These were kept + in power by negro voters, to some seven hundred thousand of whom the + ballot had been given by the reconstruction acts. The adoption of the + Fifteenth Amendment in March, 1870, brought the total in the former + slave States to 931,000, with about seventy-five thousand more negroes + in the North. The negro voters were most numerous, comparatively, in + Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. There + were a few thousand carpetbaggers in each State, with, at first, a + much larger number of scalawags. The latter, who were former Unionists, + former Whigs, Confederate deserters, and a few unscrupulous politicians, + were most numerous in Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and + Tennessee. The better class, however, rapidly left the radical party + as the character of the new régime became evident, taking with + them whatever claims the party had to respectability, education, + political experience, and property. + </p> + <p> + The conservatives, hopelessly reduced by the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span> + operation of disfranchising laws, were at first not well organized, nor + were they at any time as well led as in antebellum days. In 1868 about + one hundred thousand of them were forbidden to vote and about two + hundred thousand were disqualified from holding office. The abstention + policy of 1867-68 resulted in an almost complete withdrawal of the + influence of the conservatives for the two years, 1868-70. As a class + they were regarded by the dominant party in State and nation as + dangerous and untrustworthy and were persecuted in such irritating ways + that many became indifferent to the appeals of civil duty. They formed + a solid but almost despairing opposition in the black districts of + Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and South Carolina. For the leaders + the price of amnesty was conversion to radicalism, but this price + few would pay. + </p> + <p> + The new state governments possessed certain characteristics in common. + Since only a small number of able men were available for office, full + powers of administration, including appointment and removal, were + concentrated in the hands of the governor. He exercised a wide control + over public funds and had authority to organize and command militia and + constabulary and to call for Federal + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> + troops. The numerous administrative boards worked with the sole object + of keeping their party in power. Officers were several times as + numerous as under the old régime, and all of them received higher + salaries and larger contingent fees. The moral support behind the + government was that of President Grant and the United States army, + not that of a free and devoted people. + </p> + <p> + Of the twenty men who served as governors eight were scalawags and twelve + were carpetbaggers—men who were abler than the scalawags and who had + much more than an equal share of the spoils. The scalawags, such as + Brownlow of Tennessee, Smith of Alabama, and Holden of North Carolina, + were usually honest but narrow, vindictive men, filled with fear and hate + of the conservative whites. Of the carpetbaggers half were personally + honest, but all were unscrupulous in politics. Some were flagrantly + dishonest. Governor Moses of South Carolina was several times bribed and + at one time, according to his own statement, received $15,000 for his vote + as speaker of the House of Representatives. Governor Stearns of Florida + was charged with stealing government supplies from the negroes; and it was + notorious that Warmoth and Kellogg of Louisiana, each of whom served only + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span> + one term, retired with large fortunes. Warmoth, indeed, went so far as to + declare: "Corruption is the fashion. I do not pretend to be honest, but + only as honest as anybody in politics." + </p> + <p> + The judiciary was no better than the executive. The chief justice of + Louisiana was convicted of fraud. A supreme court judge of South Carolina + offered his decisions for sale, and Whipper and Moses, both notorious + thieves, were elected judges by the South Carolina Legislature. In Alabama + there were many illiterate magistrates, among them the city judge of + Selma, who in April, 1865, was still living as a slave. Governor + Chamberlain, a radical, asserted that there were two hundred trial judges + in South Carolina who could not read. + </p> + <p> + Other officers were of the same stripe. Leslie, a South Carolina + carpetbagger, declared that "South Carolina has no right to be a State + unless she can support her statesmen," and he proceeded to live up to this + principle. The manager of the state railroad of Georgia, when asked how he + had been able to accumulate twenty or thirty thousand dollars on a two or + three thousand dollar salary, replied, "By the exercise of the most rigid + economy." A North Carolina negro legislator was found on one occasion + chuckling as he counted + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span> + some money. "What are you laughing at, Uncle?" he was asked. "Well, boss, + I'se been sold 'leben times in my life and dis is de fust time I eber got + de money." Godkin, in the <i>Nation,</i> said that the Georgia officials + were "probably as bad a lot of political tricksters and adventurers as + ever got together in one place." This description will fit equally well + the white officials of all the reconstructed States. Many of the negroes + who attained public office showed themselves apt pupils of their + carpetbag masters but were seldom permitted to appropriate a large + share of the plunder. In Florida the negro members of the Legislature, + thinking that they should have a part of the bribe and loot money which + their carpetbag masters were said to be receiving, went so far as to + appoint what was known as a "smelling committee" to locate the good things + and secure a share. + </p> + <p> + From 1868 to 1870 the legislatures of seven States were overwhelmingly + radical and in several the radical majority held control for four, six, or + eight years. Negroes were most numerous in the legislatures of Louisiana, + South Carolina, and Mississippi, and everywhere the votes of these men + were for sale. In Alabama and Louisiana negro legislators had a fixed + price for their votes: for + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span> + example, six hundred dollars would buy a senator in Louisiana. In South + Carolina, negro government appeared at its worst. A vivid description of + the Legislature of this State in which the negroes largely outnumbered + the whites is given by James S. Pike, a Republican journalist: ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_10-1" name="footer_10-1"></a> +¹ Pike, <i>The Prostrate State,</i> pp. 12 ff.</p> +</div> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + In the place of this old aristocratic society stands the rude form of the + most ignorant democracy that mankind ever saw, invested with the functions + of government. It is the dregs of the population habilitated in the robes + of their intelligent predecessors, and asserting over them the rule of + ignorance and corruption.… It is barbarism overwhelming civilization by + physical force. It is the slave rioting in the halls of his master, and + putting that master under his feet. And, though it is done without malice + and without vengeance, it is nevertheless none the less completely and + absolutely done.… We will enter the House of Representatives. Here sit + one hundred and twenty-four members. Of these, twenty-three are white men, + representing the remains of the old civilization. These are good-looking, + substantial citizens. They are men of weight and standing in the + communities they represent. They are all from the hill country. The frosts + of sixty and seventy winters whiten the heads of some among them. There + they sit, grim and silent. They feel themselves to be but loose stones, + thrown in to partially obstruct a current they are powerless to resist.… + </p> + <p> + This dense negro crowd … do the debating, the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> + squabbling, the lawmaking, + and create all the clamor and disorder of the body. These twenty-three + white men are but the observers, the enforced auditors of the dull and + clumsy imitation of a deliberative body, whose appearance in their present + capacity is at once a wonder and a shame to modern civilization.… The + Speaker is black, the Clerk is black, the doorkeepers are black, the + little pages are black, the chairman of the Ways and Means is black, and + the chaplain is coal black. At some of the desks sit colored men whose + types it would be hard to find outside of Congo; whose costumes, visages, + attitudes, and expression, only befit the forecastle of a buccaneer. It + must be remembered, also, that these men, with not more than a half dozen + exceptions, have been themselves slaves, and that their ancestors were + slaves for generations.… + </p> + <p> + But the old stagers admit that the colored brethren have a wonderful + aptness at legislative proceedings. They are "quick as lightning" at + detecting points of order, and they certainly make incessant and + extraordinary use of their knowledge. No one is allowed to talk five + minutes without interruption, and one interruption is a signal for another + and another, until the original speaker is smothered under an avalanche of + them. Forty questions of privilege will be raised in a day. At times, + nothing goes on but alternating questions of order and of privilege. The + inefficient colored friend who sits in the Speaker's chair cannot suppress + this extraordinary element of the debate. Some of the blackest members + exhibit a pertinacity of intrusion in raising these points of order and + questions of privilege that few white men can equal. Their struggles to + get the floor, their bellowings and physical contortions, baffle + description. + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span> + The Speaker's hammer plays a perpetual tattoo to no purpose. The talking + and the interruptions from all quarters go on with the utmost license. + Everyone esteems himself as good as his neighbor, and puts in his oar, + apparently as often for love of riot and confusion as for anything + else.… The Speaker orders a member whom he has discovered to be + particularly unruly to take his seat. The member obeys, and with the same + motion that he sits down, throws his feet on to his desk, hiding himself + from the Speaker by the soles of his boots.… After a few experiences of + this sort, the Speaker threatens, in a laugh, to call the "gemman" to + order. This is considered a capital joke, and a guffaw follows. The laugh + goes round and then the peanuts are cracked and munched faster than ever; + one hand being employed in fortifying the inner man with this nutriment of + universal use, while the other enforces the views of the orator. This + laughing propensity of the sable crowd is a great cause of disorder. They + laugh as hens cackle—one begins and all follow. + </p> + <p> + But underneath all this shocking burlesque upon legislative proceedings, + we must not forget that there is something very real to this uncouth and + untutored multitude. It is not all sham, nor all burlesque. They have a + genuine interest and a genuine earnestness in the business of the assembly + which we are bound to recognize and respect.… They have an earnest + purpose, born of conviction that their position and condition are not + fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity to their proceedings. The + barbarous, animated jargon in which they so often indulge is on occasion + seen to be so transparently sincere and weighty in their own minds that + sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a wonderful novelty + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span> + to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago these men were raising + corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. Today they are raising + points of order and questions of privilege. They find they can raise + one as well as the other. They prefer the latter. It is easier and + better paid. Then, it is the evidence of an accomplished result. It + means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means liberty. It + means the destruction of prison-walls only too real to them. It is the + sunshine of their lives. It is their day of jubilee. It is their + long-promised vision of the Lord God Almighty. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + The congressional delegations were as radical as the state governments. + During the first two years there were no Democratic senators from the + reconstructed States and only two Democratic representatives, as against + sixty-four radical senators and representatives. At the end of four years + the Democrats numbered fifteen against seventy radicals. A negro succeeded + Jefferson Davis in the Senate, and in all the race sent two senators and + thirteen representatives to Congress, but though several were of high + character and fair ability, they exercised practically no influence. The + Southern delegations had no part in shaping policies but merely voted as + they were told by the radical leaders. + </p> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + The effect of dishonest government was soon seen in extravagant + expenditures, heavier taxes, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> + increase of the bonded debt, and depression of property values. It was to + be expected that after the ruin wrought by war and the admission of the + negro to civil rights, the expenses of government would be greater. But + only lack of honesty will account for the extraordinary expenses of the + reconstruction governments. In Alabama and Florida the running expenses + of the state government increased two hundred per cent, in Louisiana five + hundred per cent, and in Arkansas fifteen hundred per cent—all this + in addition to bond issues. In South Carolina the one item of public + printing, which from 1790 to 1868 cost $609,000, amounted in the years + 1868-1876 to $1,326,589. + </p> + <p> + Corrupt state officials had two ways of getting money—by taxation + and by the sale of bonds. Taxes were everywhere multiplied. The state tax + rate in Alabama was increased four hundred per cent, in Louisiana eight + hundred per cent, and in Mississippi, which could issue no bonds, fourteen + hundred per cent. City and county taxes, where carpetbaggers were in + control, increased in the same way. Thousands of small proprietors could + not meet their taxes, and in Mississippi alone the land sold for unpaid + taxes amounted to six million acres, an area as large as Massachusetts and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span> + Rhode Island together. Nordhoff ¹ speaks of seeing Louisiana + newspapers of which three-fourths were taken up by notices of tax sales. + In protest against extravagant and corrupt expenditures, taxpayers' + conventions were held in every State, but without effect. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_10-2" name="footer_10-2"></a> +¹ Charles Nordhoff, <i>The Cotton States in the Spring and + Summer of 1875.</i></p> +</div> + <p> + Even the increased taxation, however, did not produce enough to support + the new governments, which now had recourse to the sale of state and local + bonds. In this way Governor Holden's Administration managed in two years + to increase the public debt of North Carolina from $16,000,000 to + $32,000,000. The state debt of South Carolina rose from $7,000,000 to + $29,000,000 in 1873. In Alabama, by 1874, the debt had mounted from + $7,000,000 to $32,000,000. The public debt of Louisiana rose from + $14,000,000 in 1868 to $48,000,000 in 1871, with a local debt of + $31,000,000. Cities, towns, and counties sold bonds by the bale. The debt + of New Orleans increased twenty-five fold and that of Vicksburg a + thousandfold. A great deal of the debt was the result of fraudulent issues + of bonds or overissues. For this form of fraud the state financial agents + in New York were usually + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span> + responsible. Southern bonds sold far below par, and the time came when + they were peddled about at ten to twenty-five cents on the dollar. + </p> + <p> + Still another disastrous result followed this corrupt financiering. In + Alabama there was a sixty-five per cent decrease in property values, in + Florida forty-five per cent, and in Louisiana fifty to seventy-five + per cent. A large part of the best property was mortgaged, and foreclosure + sales were frequent. Poorer property could be neither mortgaged nor sold. + There was an exodus of whites from the worst governed districts in the + West and the North. Many towns, among them Mobile and Memphis, surrendered + their charters and were ruled directly by the governor; and there were + numerous "strangulated" counties which on account of debt had lost + self-government and were ruled by appointees of the governor. + </p> + <p> + A part of the money raised by taxes and by bond sales was used for + legitimate expenses and the rest went to pay forged warrants, excess + warrants, and swollen mileage accounts, and to fill the pockets of + embezzlers and thieves from one end of the South to the other. In + Arkansas, for example, the auditor's clerk hire, which was $4000 in 1866, + cost twenty-three times as much in 1873. In Louisiana + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span> + and South Carolina stealing was elevated into an art and was practiced + without concealment. In the latter State the worthless Hell Hole Swamp + was bought for $26,000 to be farmed by the negroes but was charged to + the state at $120,000. A free restaurant maintained at the Capitol for + the legislators cost $125,000 for one session. The porter who conducted + it said that he kept it open sixteen to twenty hours a day and that + someone was always in the room eating and drinking or smoking. When a + member left he would fill his pockets with cigars or with bottles of + drink. Forty different brands of beverages were paid for by the State + for the private use of members, and all sorts of food, furniture, and + clothing were sent to the houses of members and were paid for by the + State as "legislative supplies." On the bills appeared such items as + imported mushrooms, one side of bacon, one feather bed, bustles, two + pairs of extra long stockings, one pair of garters, one bottle perfume, + twelve monogram cut glasses, one horse, one comb and brush, three + gallons of whisky, one pair of corsets. During the recess, supplies + were sent out to the rural homes of the members. + </p> + <p> + The endorsement of railroad securities by the State also furnished a + source of easy money to + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> + the dishonest official and the crooked speculator. + After the Civil War, in response to the general desire in the South for + better railroad facilities, the "Johnson" governments began to underwrite + railroad bonds. When the carpetbag and negro governments came in, the + policy was continued but without proper safeguards. Bonds were sometimes + endorsed before the roads were constructed, and even excess issues were + authorized. Bonds were endorsed for some roads of which not a mile was + ever built. The White River Valley and Texas Railroad never came into + existence, but it obtained a grant of $175,000 from the State of Arkansas. + Speaker Carter of the Louisiana Legislature received a financial interest + in all railroad endorsement bills which he steered through the House. + Negro members were regularly bribed to vote for the bond steals. A witness + swore that in Louisiana it cost him $80,000 to get a railroad charter + passed, but that the Governor's signature cost more than the consent of + the Legislature. + </p> + <p> + When the roads defaulted on the payment of interest, as most of them did, + the burden fell upon the State. Not all of the blame for this perverted + legislation should be placed upon the corrupt legislators, however, for + the lawyers who saw the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> + bills through were frequently Southern Democrats representing supposedly + respectable Northern capitalists. The railroads as well as the taxpayers + suffered from this pernicious lobbying, for the companies were loaded + with debts and rarely profited by the loans. Valuation of railroad + property rapidly decreased. The roads of Alabama which were valued in + 1871 at $26,000,000 had decreased in 1875 to $9,500,000. + </p> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + The foundation of radical power in the South lay in the alienation of the + races which had been accomplished between 1865 and 1868. To maintain this + unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effective means in the + negro militia. Under the constitution of every reconstructed State a + negro constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, North + Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to risk + the dangers of arming the blacks. No governor dared permit the Southern + whites to organize as militia. In South Carolina the carpetbag governor, + Robert K. Scott, enrolled ninety-six thousand negroes as members of the + militia and organized and armed twenty thousand of them. The few white + companies were ordered to disband. In Louisiana the governor + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span> + had a standing army of blacks called the Metropolitan Guard. In several + States the negro militia was used as a constabulary and was sent to any + part of the State to make arrests. + </p> + <p> + In spite of this provocation there were, after the riots of 1866-67, + comparatively few race conflicts until reconstruction was drawing to a + close. The intervening period was filled with the more peaceful activities + of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Camelia. ¹ But as the whites made + up their minds to get rid of negro rule, the clashes came frequently and + always ended in the death of more negroes than whites. ² They would + probably have continued with serious consequences if the whites had not + eventually secured control of the government. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_10-3" name="footer_10-3"></a> +¹ See pages 243-264.</p> + <p> + <a id="footer_10-4" name="footer_10-4"></a> +² Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisiana at + Colfax, Coushatta, and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at + Vicksburg and Clinton, Mississippi, in 1874-75.</p> +</div> + + <p> + The lax election laws, framed indeed for the benefit of the party in + power, gave the radicals ample opportunity to control the negro vote. The + elections were frequently corrupt, though not a great deal of money was + spent in bribery. It was found less expensive to use other methods of + getting out the vote. The negroes were generally + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span> + made to understand that + the Democrats wanted to put them back into slavery, but sometimes the + leaders deemed it wiser to state more concretely that "Jeff Davis had come + to Montgomery and is ready to organize the Confederacy again" if the + Democrats should win; or to say that "if Carter is elected, he will not + allow your wives and daughters to wear hoopskirts." In Alabama many + thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to be distributed among + "flood sufferers" in a region which had not been flooded since the days of + Noah. The negroes were told that they must vote right and receive enough + bacon for a year, or "lose their rights" if they voted wrongly. Ballot-box + stuffing developed into an art, and each negro was carefully inspected to + see that he had the right kind of ticket before he was marched to the + polls. + </p> + <p> + The inspection and counting of election returns were in the hands of the + county and state boards, which were controlled by the governor, and which + had authority to throw out or count in any number of votes. On the + assumption that the radicals were entitled to all negro votes, the + returning boards followed the census figures for the black population in + order to arrive at the minimum radical vote. The action of the returning + boards + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> + was specially flagrant in Louisiana and Florida and in the black + counties of South Carolina. + </p> + <p> + Notwithstanding the fact that the very best arrangements had been made at + Washington and in the States for the running of the radical machine, + everywhere there were factional fights from the beginning. Usually the + scalawags declared hostilities after they found that the carpetbaggers had + control of the negroes and the inside track on the way to the best state + and federal offices. Later, after the scalawags had for the most part left + the radicals, there were contests among the carpetbaggers themselves for + the control of the negro vote and the distribution of spoils. The defeated + faction usually joined the Democrats. In Arkansas a split started in 1869 + which by 1872 resulted in two state governments. Alabama in 1872 and + Louisiana in 1874-75 each had two rival governments. This factionalism + contributed largely to the overthrow of the radicals. + </p> + <p> + The radical structure, however, was still powerfully supported from + without. Relations between the Federal Government and the state + governments in the South were close, and the policy at Washington was + frequently determined by conditions in the South. President Grant, though + at + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> + first considerate, was usually consistently radical in his Southern + policy. This attitude is difficult to explain except by saying that Grant + fell under the control of radical advisers after his break with Johnson, + that his military instincts were offended by opposition in the South which + his advisers told him was rebellious, and that he was impressed by the + need of holding the Southern radical vote against the inroads of the + Democrats. After about 1869 Grant never really understood the conditions + in the South. He was content to control by means of Federal troops and + thousands of deputy marshals. For this policy the Ku Klux activities gave + sufficient excuse for a time, and the continued story of "rebel outrages" + was always available to justify a call for soldiers or deputies. The + enforcement legislation gave the color of law to any interference which + was deemed necessary. + </p> + <p> + Federal troops served other ends than the mere preservation of order and + the support of the radical state governments. They were used on occasion + to decide between opposing factions and to oust conservatives who had + forced their way into office. The army officers purged the Legislature of + Georgia in 1870, that of Alabama in 1872, and that of Louisiana in 1875. + In 1875 the city government + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span> + of Vicksburg and the state government of Louisiana were overturned by + the whites, but General Sheridan at once intervened to put back the + negroes and carpetbaggers. He suggested to President Grant that the + conservatives be declared "banditti" and he would make himself + responsible for the rest. As soon as a State showed signs of going over + to the Democrats or an important election was lost by the radicals, one + House or the other of Congress in many instances sent an investigation + committee to ascertain the reasons. The Committees on the Condition of + the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States were nearly always ready + with reports to establish the necessity of intervention. + </p> + <p> + Besides the army there was in every State a powerful group of Federal + officials who formed a "ring" for the direction of all good radicals. + These marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and customhouse + officials were in close touch with Washington and frequently dictated + nominations and platforms. At New Orleans the officials acted as a + committee on credentials and held all the state conventions under their + control in the customhouse. + </p> + <p> + Such was the machinery used to sustain a party + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> + which, with the gradual defection of the whites, became throughout the + South almost uniformly black. At first few negroes asked for offices, + but soon the carpetbaggers found it necessary to divide with the rapidly + growing number of negro politicians. No negro was elected governor, + though several reached the office of lieutenant governor, secretary of + state, auditor, superintendent of education, justice of the state supreme + court, and fifteen were elected to Congress. ¹ It would not be + correct to say that the negro race was malicious or on evil bent. Unless + deliberately stirred up by white leaders, few negroes showed signs of + mean spirit. Few even made exorbitant demands. They wanted + "something"—schools and freedom and "something else," they knew not + what. Deprived of the leadership of the best whites, they could not + possibly act with the scalawags—their traditional enemies. Nothing + was left for them but to follow the carpetbagger. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_10-5" name="footer_10-5"></a> +¹ Revels, Lynch, and Bruce represent the better negro + officeholders; Pinchback, Rainey, and Nash, the less + respectable ones; and below these were the rascals whose + ambition was to equal their white preceptors in corruption.</p> +</div> + + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> + <a name="Chapter11" id="Chapter11"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER XI.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Ku Klux Movement</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + Ku Klux movement, which took the form of secret revolutionary + societies, grew out of a general conviction among the whites that the + reconstruction policies were impossible and not to be endured. Somers, an + English traveler, says that at this time "nearly every respectable white + man in the Southern States was not only disfranchised but under fear of + arrest or confiscation; the old foundations of authority were utterly + razed before any new ones had yet been laid, and in the dark and benighted + interval the remains of the Confederate armies—swept after a long + and heroic day of fair fight from the field—flitted before the eyes + of the people in this weird and midnight shape of a Ku Klux Klan." Ryland + Randolph, an Alabama editor who was also an official of the Klan, stated + in his paper that "the origin of Ku Klux Klan is in the galling despotism + that broods like a night-mare + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span> + over these Southern States—a fungus + growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of Loyal Leagues, + the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our national + Constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, all + resources and all powers, to degrade the white man by the establishment of + negro supremacy." + </p> + <p> + The secret orders, regardless of their original purposes, were all finally + to be found opposing radical reconstruction. Everywhere their objects were + the same: to recover for the white race their former control of society + and government, and to destroy the baneful influence of the alien among + the blacks. The people of the South were by law helpless to take steps + towards setting up any kind of government in a land infested by a vicious + element—Federal and Confederate deserters, bushwhackers, outlaws of + every description, and negroes, some of whom proved insolent and violent + in their newly found freedom. Nowhere was property or person safe, and for + a time many feared a negro insurrection. General Hardee said to his + neighbors, "I advise you to get ready for what may come. We are standing + over a sleeping volcano." + </p> + <p> + To cope with this situation ante-bellum patrols—the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> + "patter-rollers" as the negroes called them—were often secretly + reorganized. In each community for several months after the Civil War, + and in many of them for months before the end of the war, there were + informal vigilance committees. Some of these had such names as the Black + Cavalry and Men of Justice in Alabama, the Home Guards in many other + places, while the anti-Confederate societies of the war, the Heroes of + America, the Red Strings, and the Peace Societies, transformed themselves + in certain localities into regulatory bodies. Later these secret + societies numbered scores, perhaps hundreds, varying from small bodies + of local police to great federated bodies which covered almost the entire + South and even had membership in the North and West. Other important + organizations were the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Faces, the + White Brotherhood, the Council of Safety, the '76 Association, the Sons + of '76, the Order of the White Rose, and the White Boys. As the fight + against reconstruction became bolder, the orders threw off their + disguises and appeared openly as armed whites fighting for the control + of society. The White League of Louisiana, the White Line of Mississippi, + the White Man's party of Alabama, and the Rifle + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> + Clubs of South Carolina, were later manifestations of the general Ku Klux + movement. + </p> + <p> + The two largest secret orders, however, were the Ku Klux Klan, from which + the movement took its name, and the Knights of the White Camelia. The Ku + Klux Klan originated at Pulaski, Tennessee, in the autumn of 1865, as a + local organization for social purposes. The founders were young + Confederates, united for fun and mischief. The name was an accidental + corruption of the Greek word <i>Kuklos</i>, a circle. The officers adopted + queer sounding titles and strange disguises. Weird night riders in ghostly + attire thoroughly frightened the superstitious negroes, who were told that + the spirits of dead Confederates were abroad. This terrorizing of the + blacks successfully provided the amusement which the founders desired and + there were many applications for admission to the society. The Pulaski + Club, or Den, was in the habit of parading in full uniform at social + gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight of the small boys + and girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, and many of the young men of + Alabama who saw these parades or heard of them organized similar Dens in + the towns of Northern Alabama. Nothing but horseplay, however, took + place at the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span> + meetings. In 1867 and 1868 the order appeared in parade in the towns of + the adjoining States and, as we are told, "cut up curious gyrations" on + the public squares. + </p> + <p> + There was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose + behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; many joined the order + convinced that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities of + using it as a means of terrorizing the negroes. After men discovered the + power of the Klan over the negroes, indeed, they were generally inclined, + owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to act as a sort of police + patrol and to hold in check the thieving negroes, the Union League, and + the "loyalists." In this way, from being merely a number of social clubs + the Dens swiftly became bands of regulators, taking on many new fantastic + qualities along with their new seriousness of purpose. Some of the more + ardent spirits led the Dens far in the direction of violence and outrage. + Attempts were made by the parent Den at Pulaski to regulate the conduct of + the others, but, owing to the loose organization, the effort met with + little success. Some of the Dens, indeed, lost all connection with the + original order. + </p> + <p> + A general organization of these societies was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> + perfected at a convention held in Nashville in May, 1867, just as the + Reconstruction Acts were being put into operation. A constitution called + the <i>Prescript</i> was adopted which provided for a national + organization. The former slave States, except Delaware, constituted the + Empire, which was ruled by the Grand Wizard (then General Forrest) with + a staff of ten Genii; each State was a realm under a Grand Dragon and + eight Hydras; the next subdivision was a Dominion, consisting of several + counties, ruled by a Grand Titan and six Furies; the county or Province + was governed by a Grand Giant and four Goblins; the unit was the Den or + community organization, of which there might be several in each county, + each under a Grand Cyclops and two Nighthawks. The Genii, Hydras, Furies, + Goblins, and Nighthawks were staff officers. The private members were + called Ghouls. The order had no name, and at first was designated by + two stars (**), later by three (***). Sometimes it was called the + Invisible Empire of Ku Klux Klan. + </p> + <p> + Any white man over eighteen might be admitted to the Den after nomination + by a member and strict investigation by a committee. The oath demanded + obedience and secrecy. The Dens governed themselves by the ordinary rules + of + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span> + deliberative bodies. The punishment for betrayal of secrecy was "the + extreme penalty of the Law." None of the secrets was to be written, and + there was a "Register" of alarming adjectives, such as terrible, horrible, + furious, doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, gloomy, which was used as + a cipher code in dating the odd Ku Klux orders. + </p> + <p> + The general objects of the order were thus set forth in the revised + <i>Prescript</i>: first, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the + defenseless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, + the violent, and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to + succor the suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and + orphans of Confederate soldiers; second, to protect and defend the + Constitution of the United States and all laws passed in conformity + thereto, and to protect the States and people thereof from all invasion + from any source whatever; third, to aid and assist in the execution of all + "constitutional" laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, and + from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land. But + the tests for admission gave further indication of the objects of the + order. No Republican, no Union Leaguer, and no member of the + G. A. R. might become a member. The members + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> + were pledged to oppose negro equality of any kind, to favor emancipation + of the Southern whites and the restoration of their rights, and to + maintain constitutional government and equitable laws. + </p> + <p> + Prominent men testified that the order became popular because the whites + felt that they were persecuted and that there was no legal protection, no + respectable government. General (later Senator) Pettus said that through + all the workings of the Federal Government ran the principle that "we are + an inferior, degraded people and not fit to be trusted." General Clanton + of Alabama further explained that "there is not a respectable white woman + in the Negro Belt of Alabama who will trust herself outside of her house + without some protector.… So far as our State Government is + concerned, we are in the hands of camp-followers, horse-holders, cooks, + bottle-washers, and thieves.… We have passed out from the hands of + the brave soldiers who overcame us, and are turned over to the tender + mercies of squaws for torture.… I see negro police—great + black fellows—leading white girls around the streets of Montgomery, + and locking them up in jails." + </p> + <p> + The Klan first came into general prominence in 1868 with the report of the + Federal commanders in + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span> + the South concerning its activities. Soon after that date the order + spread through the white counties of the South, in many places absorbing + the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces, and some other local organizations + which had been formed in the upper part of the Black Belt. But it was not + alone in the field. The order known as the Knights of the White Camelia, + founded in Louisiana in 1867 and formally organized in 1868, spread + rapidly over the lower South until it reached the territory occupied by + the Ku Klux Klan. It was mainly a Black Belt order, and on the whole had + a more substantial and more conservative membership than the other large + secret bodies. Like the Ku Klux Klan, it also absorbed several minor + local societies. + </p> + <p> + The White Camelia had a national organization with headquarters in New + Orleans. Its business was conducted by a Supreme Council of the United + States, with Grand, Central, and Subordinate Councils for each State, + county, and community. All communication within the order took place by + passwords and cipher; the organization and the officers were similar to + those of the Ku Klux Klan; and all officers were designated by initials. + An ex-member states that "during the three years of its existence here + [Perry County, Alabama] I believe + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span> + its organization and discipline were as perfect as human ingenuity could + have made it." The fundamental object of the White Camelia was the + "maintenance of the supremacy of the white race," and to this end the + members were constrained "to observe a marked distinction between the + races" and to restrain the "African race to that condition of social and + political inferiority for which God has destined it." The members were + pledged to vote only for whites, to oppose negro equality in all things, + but to respect the legitimate rights of negroes. + </p> + <p> + The smaller orders were similar in purpose and organization to the Ku Klux + Klan and the White Camelia. Most of them joined or were affiliated with + the large societies. Probably a majority of the men of the South were + associated at some time during this period with these revolutionary + bodies. As a rule the politicians, though approving, held aloof. Public + opinion generally supported the movement so long as the radicals made + serious attempts to carry out the reconstruction policies. + </p> + <p> + The task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the + blacks and their leaders in order that honor, life, and property might be + secure. They planned to accomplish this aim by playing + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> + upon the fears, superstitions, and cowardice of the black race—in a + word, by creating a white terror to counteract the black one. To this end + they made use of strange disguises, mysterious and fearful conversation, + midnight rides and drills, and silent parades. As long as secrecy and + mystery were to be effective in dealing with the negroes, costume was an + important matter. These disguises varied with the locality and often with + the individual. High cardboard hats, covered with white cloth often + decorated with stars or pictures of animals, white masks with holes cut + for eyes, nose and mouth bound with red braid to give a horrible + appearance, and frequently a long tongue of red flannel so fixed that it + could be moved with the wearer's tongue, and a long white robe—these + made up a costume which served at the same time as a disguise and as a + means of impressing the impressionable negro. Horses were covered with + sheets or white cloth held on by the saddle and by belts, and sometimes + the animals were even painted. Skulls of sheep and cattle, and even of + human beings were often carried on the saddlebows to add another element + of terror. A framework was sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a Ghoul + which caused him to appear twelve feet high. A + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span> + skeleton wooden hand at the end of a stick served to greet terrified + negroes at midnight. For safety every man carried a small whistle and + a brace of pistols. + </p> + <p> + The trembling negro who ran into a gathering of the Ku Klux on his return + from a Loyal League meeting was informed that the white-robed figures he + saw were the spirits of the Confederate dead killed at Chickamauga or + Shiloh, now unable to rest in their graves because of the conduct of the + negroes. He was told in a sepulchral voice of the necessity for his + remaining more at home and taking a less active part in predatory + excursions abroad. In the middle of the night a sleeping negro might wake + to find his house surrounded by a ghostly company, or to see several + terrifying figures standing by his bedside. They were, they said, the + ghosts of men whom he had formerly known. They had scratched through from + Hell to warn the negroes of the consequences of their misconduct. Hell was + a dry and thirsty land: and they asked him for water. Bucket after bucket + of water disappeared into a sack of leather, rawhide, or rubber, concealed + within the flowing robe. The story is told of one of these night travelers + who called at the cabin of a radical negro in Attakapas + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span> + County, Louisiana. + After drinking three buckets of water to the great astonishment of the + darky, the traveler thanked him and told him that he had traveled nearly a + thousand miles within twenty-four hours, and that that was the best water + he had tasted since he was killed at the battle of Shiloh. The negro + dropped the bucket, overturned chairs and table in making his escape + through the window, and was never again seen or heard of by residents of + that community. Another incident is told of a parade in Pulaski, + Tennessee: "While the procession was passing a corner on which a negro man + was standing, a tall horseman in hideous garb turned aside from the line, + dismounted and stretched out his bridle rein toward the negro, as if he + desired him to hold his horse. Not daring to refuse, the frightened + African extended his hand to grasp the rein. As he did so, the Ku Klux + took his own head from his shoulders and offered to place that also in the + outstretched hand. The negro stood not upon the order of his going, but + departed with a yell of terror. To this day he will tell you: 'He done it, + suah, boss. I seed him do it.'" + </p> + <p> + It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence, for the black + population was in an ecstasy of fear. A silent host of white-sheeted + horsemen + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> + parading the country roads at night was sufficient to reduce the + blacks to good behavior for weeks or months. One silent Ghoul posted near + a meeting place of the League would be the cause of the immediate + dissolution of that club. Cow bones in a sack were rattled within earshot + of the terrified negroes. A horrible being, fifteen feet tall, walking + through the night toward a place of congregation, was very likely to find + that every one had vacated the place before he arrived. A few figures + wrapped in sheets and sitting on tombstones in a graveyard near which + negroes were accustomed to pass would serve to keep the immediate + community quiet for weeks and give the locality a reputation for "hants" + which lasted long. + </p> + <p> + To prevent detection on parade, members of the Klan often stayed out of + the parade in their own town and were to be seen freely and conspicuously + mingling with the spectators. A man who believed that he knew every horse + in the vicinity and was sure that he would be able to identify the riders + by their horses was greatly surprised upon lifting the disguise of the + horse nearest him to find the animal upon which he himself had ridden into + town a short while before. The parades were always silent and so arranged + as to give the impression of very large + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span> + numbers. In the regular drills which were held in town and country the + men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the Confederate + army. There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a mysterious + language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used. + </p> + <p> + Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until the + carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the Reconstruction + Acts. Then more violent methods were necessary. The Klans patrolled + disturbed communities, visited, warned, and frightened obnoxious + individuals, whipped some, and even hanged others. Until forbidden by law + or military order, the newspapers were accustomed to print the mysterious + proclamations of the Ku Klux. The following, which was circulated in + Montgomery, Alabama, in April 1868, is a typical specimen: + </p> + <div id="klanProclamation"> + <div id="klanOrg"> + <p class="twelve-em">K. K. K.</p> + <p class="nine-half-em">Clan of Vega.</p> + <p class="two-em">hdqr's k.k.k. hospitallers.</p> + <p class="four-em">Vega Clan, New Moon,</p> + <p class="one-em">3rd Month, Anno K. K. K. 1.</p> + </div> + <p class="order"><span class="sc">Order</span> No. K. K.</p> + <p> + Clansmen—Meet at the Trysting Spot when Orion Kisses the Zenith. The + doom of treason is Death. <i>Dies Iræ</i>. The wolf is on his + walk—the serpent coils + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> + to strike. Action! Action!! Action!!! By midnight and the + Tomb; by Sword and Torch and the Sacred Oath at Forrester's Altar, I bid + you come! The clansmen of Glen Iran and Alpine will greet you at the + new-made grave. + </p> + <p class="remember"> + Remember the Ides of April. + </p> + <div id="klanSig"> + <p class="one-em">By command of the Grand D. I. H.</p> + <p>Cheg. V.</p> + </div> + </div> + <p> + The work of the secret orders was successful. As bodies of vigilantes, the + Klans and the Councils regulated the conduct of bad negroes, punished + criminals who were not punished by the State, looked after the activities + and teachings of Northern preachers and teachers, dispersed hostile + gatherings of negroes, and ran out of the community the worst of the + reconstructionist officials. They kept the negroes quiet and freed them to + some extent from the influence of evil leaders. The burning of houses, + gins, mills, and stores ceased; property became more secure; people slept + safely at night; women and children walked abroad in security; the + incendiary agents who had worked among the negroes left the country; + agitators, political, educational, and religious, became more moderate; + "bad niggers" ceased to be bad; labor became less disorganized; the + carpetbaggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the Southern communities. + It was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span> + not so much a revolution as the defeat of a revolution. Society was + replaced in the old historic grooves from which war and reconstruction had + jarred it. + </p> + <p> + Successful as was the Ku Klux movement in these respects, it had at the + same time many harmful results. Too often local orders fell under the + control of reckless or lawless men and the Klan was then used as a cloak + to cover violence and thievery; family and personal feuds were carried + into the orders and fought out; and anti-negro feeling in many places + found expression in activities designed to drive the blacks from the + country. It was easy for any outlaw to hide himself behind the protection + of a secret order. So numerous did these men become that after 1868 there + was a general exodus of the leading reputable members, and in 1869 the + formal disbanding of the Klan was proclaimed by General Forrest, the Grand + Wizard. The White Camelia and other orders also gradually went out of + existence. Numerous attempts were made to suppress the secret movement by + the military commanders, the state governments, and finally by Congress, + but none of these was entirely successful, for in each community the + secret opposition lasted as long as it was needed. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> + The political effects of the orders, however, survived their organized + existence. Some of the Southern States began to go Democratic in spite + of the Reconstruction Acts and the Amendments, and there was little + doubt that the Ku Klux movement had aided in this change. In order to + preserve the achievements of radical reconstruction Congress passed, in + 1870 and 1871, the enforcement acts which had been under debate for + nearly two years. The first act (May 31, 1870) was designed to protect + the negro's right to vote and was directed at individuals as well as + against States. Section six, indeed, was aimed specifically at the Ku + Klux Klan. This act was a long step in the direction of giving the + Federal Government control over state elections. But as North Carolina + went wholly and Alabama partially Democratic in 1870, a Supplementary + Act (February 28, 1871) went further and placed the elections for + members of Congress completely under Federal control, and also authorized + the use of thousands of deputy marshals at elections. As the campaign of + 1872 drew near, Grant and his advisers became solicitous to hold all the + Southern States which had not been regained by the Democrats. Accordingly, + on March 23, 1871, the President sent a message to Congress declaring + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> + that in some of the States the laws could not be enforced and asked for + remedial legislation. Congress responded with an act (April 20, 1871), + commonly called the "Ku Klux Act," which gave the President despotic + military power to uphold the remaining negro governments and authorized + him to declare a state of war when he considered it necessary. Of this + power Grant made use in only one instance. In October, 1871, he declared + nine counties of South Carolina in rebellion and put them under martial + law. + </p> + <p> + During the ten years following 1870, several thousand arrests were made + under the enforcement acts and about 1250 convictions were secured, + principally in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. + Most of these violations of election laws, however, had nothing to do with + the Ku Klux movement, for by 1870 the better class of members had + withdrawn from the secret orders. But though the enforcement acts checked + these irregularities to a considerable extent, they nevertheless failed to + hold the South for the radicals and essential parts of them were declared + unconstitutional a few years later. + </p> + <p> + In order to justify the passage of the enforcement acts and to obtain + campaign material for use + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span> + in 1872, Congress appointed a committee, organized on the very day when + the Ku Klux Act was approved, to investigate conditions in the Southern + States. From June to August, 1871, the committee took testimony in + Washington, and in the fall subcommittees visited several Southern States. + Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were, however, + omitted from the investigation. Notwithstanding the partisan purpose and + methods of the investigation, the report of the committee and the + accompanying testimony constituted a Democratic rather than a Republican + document. It is a veritable mine of information about the South between + 1865 and 1871. The Democratic minority members made skillful use of their + opportunity to expose conditions in the South. They were less concerned + to meet the charges made against the Ku Klux Klan than to show why such + movements came about. The Republicans, concerned mainly about material + for the presidential campaign, neglected the broader phases of the + situation. + </p> + <p> + Opposition to the effects of reconstruction did not come to an end with + the dissolution of the more famous orders. On the contrary, it now became + public and open and resulted in the organization, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span> + after 1872, of the White League, the Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, the White + Man's Party in Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs in South Carolina. The later + movements were distinctly but cautiously anti-negro. There was most + irritation in the white counties where there were large numbers of + negroes. Negro schools and churches were burned because they served as + meeting places for negro political organizations. The color line began + to be more and more sharply drawn. Social and business ostracism + continued to be employed against white radicals, while the negroes were + discharged from employment or were driven from their rented farms. + </p> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + The Ku Klux movement, it is to be noted in retrospect, originated as an + effort to restore order in the war-stricken Southern States. The secrecy + of its methods appealed to the imagination and caused its rapid expansion, + and this secrecy was inevitable because opposition to reconstruction was + not lawful. As the reconstruction policies were put into operation, the + movement became political and used violence when appeals to superstitious + fears ceased to be effective. The Ku Klux Klan centered, directed, and + crystallized public opinion, and united the whites upon a platform of + white + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span> + supremacy. The Southern politicians stood aloof from the movement + but accepted the results of its work. It frightened the negroes and bad + whites into better conduct, and it encouraged the conservatives and aided + them to regain control of society, for without the operations of the Klan + the black districts would never have come again under white control. + Towards the end, however, its methods frequently became unnecessarily + violent and did great harm to Southern society. The Ku Klux system of + regulating society is as old as history; it had often been used before; it + may even be used again. When a people find themselves persecuted by aliens + under legal forms, they will invent some means outside the law for + protecting themselves; and such experiences will inevitably result in a + weakening of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of + justice. + </p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> + <a name="Chapter12" id="Chapter12"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER XII.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">The Changing South</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">"The</span> + bottom rail is on top" was a phrase which had flashed throughout the + late Confederate States. It had been coined by the negroes in 1867 to + express their view of the situation, but its aptness had been recognized + by all. After ten years of social and economic revolution, however, it was + not so clear that the phrase of 1867 correctly described the new + situation. "The white man made free" would have been a more accurate + epitome, for the white man had been able, in spite of his temporary + disabilities, to compete with the negro in all industries. + </p> + <p> + It will be remembered that the negro districts were least exposed to the + destruction of war. The well-managed plantation, lying near the highways + of commerce, with its division of labor, nearly or quite self-sufficing, + was the bulwark of the Confederacy. When the fighting ended, an industrial + revolution began in these untouched parts of the + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> + Black Belt. The problem of free negro labor now appeared. During the year + 1865 no general plan for a labor system was formulated except by the + Freedmen's Bureau. That, however, was not a success. There were all sorts + of makeshifts, such as cash wages, deferred wages, coöperation, even + sharing of expense and product, and contracts, either oral or written. + </p> + <p> + The employers showed a disposition to treat the negro family as a unit in + making contracts for labor, wages, food, clothes, and care. ¹ In + general these early arrangements were made to transform slavery with its + mutual duties and obligations into a free labor system with wages and + "privileges." The "privileges" of slavery could not be destroyed; in fact, + they have never yet been destroyed in numerous places. Curious demands + were made by the negroes: here, farm bells must not ring; there, overseers + or managers must be done away with; in some places plantation courts were + to settle matters of work, rent, and conduct; elsewhere, agreements were + made that on Saturday the laborer + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> + should be permitted to go to town and, perhaps, ride a mule or horse. + In South Carolina the Sea Island negroes demanded that in laying out + work the old "tasks" or "stints" of slavery days be retained as the + standard. The farming districts at the edge of the Black Belt, where + the races were about equal in numbers, already had a kind of "share + system," and in these sections the economic chaos after the war was + not so complete. The former owners worked in the field with their + ex-slaves and thus provided steady employment for many. Farms were rented + for a fixed sum of money, or for a part of the crop, or on "shares." + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_12-1" name="footer_12-1"></a> + ¹ J. D. B. De Bow, the economist, testified before the Joint + Committee on Reconstruction that, if the negro would work, + free labor would be better for the planters than slave + labor. He called attention to the fact, however, that negro + women showed a desire to avoid field labor, and there is + also evidence to show that they objected to domestic service + and other menial work.</p> +</div> + + <p> + The white districts, which had previously fought a losing competition with + the efficiently managed and inexpensive slave labor of the Black Belt, + were affected most disastrously by war and its aftermath. They were + distant from transportation lines and markets; they employed poor farming + methods; they had no fertilizers; they raised no staple crops on their + infertile land; and in addition they now had to face the destitution that + follows fighting. Yet these regions had formerly been almost + self-supporting, although the farms were small and no elaborate labor + system had been developed. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span> + In the planting districts where the owner was land-poor he made an + attempt to bring in Northern capital and Northern or foreign labor. In + the belief that the negroes would work better for a Northern man, every + planter who could do so secured a Northern partner or manager, frequently + a soldier. Nevertheless these imported managers nearly always failed + because they did not understand cotton, rice, or sugar planting, and + because they were either too severe or too easy upon the blacks. + </p> + <p> + No Northern labor was to be had, and the South could not retain even all + its own native whites. Union soldiers and others seeking to better their + prospects moved west and northwest to fill the newly opened lands, while + the Confederates, kept out of the homestead region by the test oath, + swarmed into Texas, which owned its own public lands, or went North to + other occupations. Nor could the desperate planters hire foreign + immigrants. Several States, among them South Carolina, Alabama, and + Louisiana, advertised for laborers and established labor bureaus, but + without avail. The negro politicians in 1867 declared themselves opposed + to all movements to foster immigration. So in the Black Belt the negro + had, for forty years, a monopoly of farm labor. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span> + The share system of tenantry, with its attendant evils of credit and crop + lien, was soon established in the Southern States, mainly in the Black + Belt, but to some extent also in the white districts. The landlord + furnished land, house, fuel, water, and all or a part of the seed, + fertilizer, farm implements, and farm animals. In return he received a + "half," or a "third and fourth," his share depending upon how much he had + furnished. The best class of tenants would rent for cash or a fixed + rental, the poorest laborers would work for wages only. + </p> + <p> + The "privileges" brought over from slavery, which were included in the + share renting, astonished outside observers. To the laborer was usually + given a house, a water supply, wood for fuel, pasture for pigs or cows, a + "patch" for vegetables and fruit, and the right to hunt and fish. These + were all that some needed in order to live. Somers, the English traveler + already quoted, pronounced this generous custom "outrageously absurd," for + the negroes had so many privileges that they refused to make use of their + opportunities. "The soul is often crushed out of labor by penury and + oppression," he said, "but here a soul cannot begin to be infused into it + through the sheer excess of privilege and license with which it is + surrounded." + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span> + The credit system which was developed beside the share system + made a bad condition worse. On the 1st of January, a planter could + mortgage his future crop to a merchant or landlord in exchange for + subsistence until the harvest. Since, as a rule, neither tenant nor + landlord had any surplus funds, the latter would be supplied by the banker + or banker merchant, who would then dictate the crops to be planted and the + time of sale. As a result of these conditions, the planter or farmer was + held to staple crops, high prices for necessities, high interest rate, and + frequently unfair bookkeeping. The system was excellent for a thrifty, + industrious, and intelligent man, for it enabled him to get a start. It + worked to the advantage of a bankrupt landlord, who could in this way get + banking facilities. But it had a mischievous effect upon the average + tenant, who had too small a share of the crop to feel a strong sense of + responsibility as well as too many "privileges" and too little supervision + to make him anxious to produce the best results. + </p> + <p> + The negroes entered into their freedom with several advantages: they were + trained to labor; they were occupying the most fertile soil and could + purchase land at low prices; the tenant system was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span> + most liberal; cotton, sugar, and rice were bringing high prices; and + access to markets was easy. In the white districts land was cheap, and + prices of commodities were high, but otherwise the negroes seemed to have + the better position. Yet as early as 1870, keen observers called attention + to the fact that the hill and mountain whites were thriving as compared + with their former condition, and that the negroes were no longer their + serious competitors. In the white districts better methods were coming + into use, labor was steady, fertilizers were used, and conditions of + transportation were improving. The whites were also encroaching on the + Black Belt; they were opening new lands in the Southwest; and within the + border of the Black Belt they were bringing negro labor under some + control. In the South Carolina rice lands, crowds of Irish were imported + to do the ditching which the negroes refused to do and were carried back + North when the job was finished. ¹ President Thach + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> + of the Alabama Agricultural College has thus described the + situation: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + By the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered barren + have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford a more + reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the old slave + plantations. In nearly every agricultural county in the South there is to + be observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, once the + heart of the old civilization, now abandoned by the whites, held in + tenantry by a dense negro population, full of dilapidation and ruin; while + on the other hand, there is the region of light, thin soils, occupied by + the small white freeholder, filled with schools, churches, and good roads, + and all the elements of a happy, enlightened country life. + </p> + </blockquote> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_12-2" name="footer_12-2"></a> +¹ The Census of 1880 gave proof of the superiority of the + whites in cotton production. For purposes of comparison the + cotton area may be divided into three regions: first, the + Black Belt, in which the farmers were black, the soil + fertile, the plantations large, the credit evil at its + worst, and the yield of cotton per acre the least; second, + the white districts, where the soil was the poorest, the + farms small, the workers nearly all white, and the yield per + acre better than on the fertile Black Belt lands; third, the + regions in which the races were nearly equal in numbers or + where the whites were in a slight majority, with soil of + medium fertility, good methods of agriculture, and, owing to + better controlled labor, the best yield. In other words, + negroes, fertile soil, and poor crops went together; and on + the other hand the whites got better crops on less fertile + soil. The Black Belt has never again reached the level of + production it had in 1860. But the white district kept + improving slowly.</p> +</div> + <p> + All the systems devised for handling negro labor proved to be only + partially successful. The laborer was migratory, wanted easy work, with + one or two holidays a week, and the privilege of attending political + meetings, camp meetings, and circuses. A thrifty negro could not make + headway because his fellows stole from him or his less energetic relations + and friends visited him and ate up + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> + his substance. One Alabama planter declared that he could not raise a + turkey, a chicken, a hog, or a cow; and another asserted that "a hog has + no more chance to live among these thieving negro farmers than a June bug + in a gang of puddle ducks." Lands were mortgaged to the supply houses in + the towns, the whites gradually deserted the country, and many rice and + cotton fields grew up in weeds. Crop stealing at night became a business + which no legislation could ever completely stop. </p> + <p>A traveler has left the following description of "a model negro farm" + in 1874. The farmer purchased an old mule on credit and rented land on + shares or for so many bales of cotton; any old tools were used; corn, + bacon, and other supplies were bought on credit, and a crop lien was + given; a month later, corn and cotton were planted on soil that was not + well broken up; the negro "would not pay for no guano" to put on other + people's land; by turns the farmer planted and fished, plowed and hunted, + hoed and frolicked, or went to "meeting." At the end of the year he sold + his cotton, paid part of his rent and some of his debt, returned the mule + to its owner, and sang: + </p> + <div class="poem"> + <p class="indent30 left-indent15">Nigger work hard all de year,</p> + <p class="indent30 left-indent15">White man tote de money.</p> + </div> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span> + The great landholdings did not break up into small farms as was predicted, + though sales were frequent and in 1865 enormous amounts of land were put + on the market. After 1867, additional millions of acres were offered at + small prices, and tax and mortgage sales were numerous. The result of + these operations, however, was a change of landlords rather than a + breaking up of large plantations. New men, negroes, merchants, and Jews + became landowners. The number of small farms naturally increased but so in + some instances did the land concentrated into large holdings. + </p> + <p> + It was inevitable that conditions of negro life should undergo a + revolutionary change during the reconstruction. The serious matter of + looking out for himself and his family and of making a living dampened the + negro's cheerful spirits. Released from the discipline of slavery and + often misdirected by the worst of teachers, the negro race naturally ran + into excesses of petty criminality. Even under the reconstruction + governments the proportion of negro to white criminals was about ten to + one. Theft was frequent; arson was the accepted means of revenge on white + people; and murder became common in the brawls of the city negro quarters. + The laxness of the marriage relation worked special + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span> + hardship on the women and children in so many cases deserted by the head + of the family. + </p> + <p> + Out of the social anarchy of reconstruction the negroes emerged with + numerous organizations of their own which may have been imitations of the + Union League, the Lincoln Brotherhood, and the various church + organizations. These societies were composed entirely of blacks and have + continued with prolific reproduction to the present day. They were + characterized by high names, gorgeous regalia, and frequent parades. "The + Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity" and the "United Order of + African Ladies and Gentlemen" played a large, and on the whole useful, + part in negro social life, teaching lessons of thrift, insurance, + coöperation, and mutual aid. + </p> + <p> + The reconstructionists were not able in 1867-68 to carry through Congress + any provision for the social equality of the races, but in the + reconstructed States the equal rights issue was alive throughout the + period. Legislation giving to the negro equal rights in hotels, places of + amusements, and common carriers, was first enacted in Louisiana and South + Carolina. Frequently the carpetbaggers brought up the issue in order to + rid the radical ranks of the scalawags who were opposed to equal + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> + rights. In Florida, for example, the carpetbaggers framed a comprehensive + Equal Rights Law, passed it, and presented it to Governor Reed, who was + known to be opposed to such legislation. He vetoed the measure and thus + lost the negro support. Intermarriage with whites was made legal in + Louisiana and South Carolina and by court decision was permitted in + Alabama and Mississippi, but the Georgia Supreme Court held it to be + illegal. Mixed marriages were few, but these were made occasions of + exultation over the whites and of consequent ill feeling. + </p> + <p> + Charles Sumner was a persistent agitator for equal rights. In 1871 he + declared in a letter to a South Carolina negro convention that the race + must insist not only upon equality in hotels and on public carriers but + also in the schools. "It is not enough," he said, "to provide separate + accommodations for colored citizens even if in all respects as good as + those of other persons.… The discrimination is an insult and a + hindrance, and a bar, which not only destroys comfort and prevents + equality, but weakens all other rights. The right to vote will have new + security when your equal right in public conveyances, hotels, and common + schools, is at last established; but here you must + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span> + insist for yourselves by speech, petition, and by vote." The Southern + whites began to develop the "Jim Crow" theory of "separate but equal" + accommodations. Senator Hill of Georgia, for example, thought that hotels + might have separate divisions for the two races, and he cited the division + in the churches as proof that the negro wanted separation. + </p> + <p> + About 1874, it was plain that the last radical Congress was nearly ready + to enact social equality legislation. This fact turned many of the + Southern Unionist class back to the Democratic party, there to remain for + a long time. In 1875, as a sort of memorial to Sumner, Congress passed the + Civil Rights Act, which gave to negroes equal rights in hotels, places of + amusement, on public carriers, and on juries. Some Democratic leaders were + willing to see such legislation enacted, because in the first place, it + would have little effect except in the Border and Northern States, where + it would turn thousands into the Democratic fold, and in the second place, + because they were sure that in time the Supreme Court would declare the + law unconstitutional. And so it happened. + </p> + <p> + In regions where the more unprincipled radical leaders were in control, + the whites lived at times in fear of negro uprisings. The negroes were + armed + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> + and insolent, and the whites were few and widely scattered. Here and + there outbreaks occurred and individual whites and isolated families + suffered, but as a rule all such movements were crushed with much heavier + loss to the negroes than to the better organized whites. Nevertheless + everlasting apprehension for the safety of women and children kept the + white men nervous. General Garnett Andrews remarked about the situation in + Mississippi: + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="noindent"> + I have never suffered such an amount of anguish and alarm in all my life. + I have served through the whole war as a soldier in the army of Northern + Virginia, and saw all of it; but I never did experience … the fear + and alarm and sense of danger which I felt that time. And this was the + universal feeling among the population, among the white people. I think + that both sides were alarmed and felt uneasy. It showed itself upon the + countenance of the people; it made many of them sick. Men looked haggard + and pale, after undergoing this sort of thing for six weeks or a month, + and I have felt when I laid [sic] down that neither myself, nor my wife + and children were in safety. I expected, and honestly anticipated, and + thought it highly probable, that I might be assassinated and my house set + on fire at any time. + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + By the fires of reconstruction the whites were fused into a more + homogeneous society, social as well as political. The former slaveholding + class + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span> + continued to be more considerate of the negro than were the poor + whites; but, as misrule went on, all classes tended to unite against the + negro in politics. They were tired of reconstruction, new amendments, + force bills, Federal troops—tired of being ruled as conquered + provinces by the incompetent and the dishonest. Every measure aimed at the + South seemed to them to mean that they were considered incorrigible and + unworthy of trust, and that they were being made to suffer for the deeds + of irresponsible whites. And, to make matters worse, strong opposition to + proscriptive measures was called fresh rebellion. "When the Jacobins say + and do low and bitter things, their charge of want of loyalty in the South + because our people grumble back a little seems to me as unreasonable as + the complaint of the little boy: 'Mamma, make Bob 'have hisself. He makes + mouths at me every time I hit him with my stick.'" ¹ </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_12-3" name="footer_12-3"></a> +¹ Usually ascribed to General D. H. Hill of North Carolina, + and quoted in <i>The Land We Love,</i> vol. 1, p. 146.</p> +</div> + <p> + Probably this burden fell heavier on the young men, who had life before + them and who were growing up with diminished opportunities. Sidney Lanier, + then an Alabama school-teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor: "Perhaps you know + that with us + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span> + of the young generation in the South, since the war, pretty + much the whole of life has been merely not dying." Negro and alien rule + was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. The taxpayers + were nonparticipants in the affairs of government. Some people withdrew + entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, kept away + from towns and from speechmaking, waiting for the end to come. There were + some who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so unpleasant + was the news. The good feeling produced by the magnanimity of Grant at + Appomattox was destroyed by the severity of his Southern policy when he + became President. There was no gratitude for any so-called leniency of the + North, no repentance for the war, no desire for humiliation, for sackcloth + and ashes, and no confession of wrong. The insistence of the radicals upon + obtaining a confession of depravity only made things much worse. Scarcely + a measure of Congress during reconstruction was designed or received in a + conciliatory spirit. + </p> + <p> + The new generation of whites was poor, bitter because of persecution, + ill educated, overworked, without a bright future, and shadowed by the + race problem. Though their new political leaders were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> + shrewd, narrow, conservative, honest, and parsimonious, the constant + fighting of fire with fire scorched all. In the bitter discipline of + reconstruction, the pleasantest side of Southern life came to an end. + During the war and the consequent reconstruction there was a marked + change in Southern temperament toward the severe. Hospitality declined; + the old Southern life had never been on a business basis, but the new + Southern life now adjusted itself to a stricter economy; the old + individuality was partially lost; but class distinctions were less + obvious in a more homogeneous society. The material evils of + reconstruction may be only temporary; state debts may be paid and + wasted resources renewed; but the moral and intellectual results of + the revolution will be the more permanent. + </p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span> + <a name="Chapter13" id="Chapter13"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">CHAPTER XIII.</a> + </h2> + <p class="chaptertitle">Restoration of Home Rule</p> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + radical program of reconstruction ended after ten years in failure + rather because of a change in public opinion in the North than because of + the resistance of the Southern whites. The North of 1877, indeed, was not + the North of 1867. A more tolerant attitude toward the South developed as + the North passed through its own period of misgovernment when all the + large cities were subject to "ring rule" and corruption, as in New York + under "Boss" Tweed and in the District of Columbia under "Boss" Shepherd. + The Federal civil service was discredited by the scandals connected with + the Sanborn contracts, the Whisky Ring, and the Star Routes, while some + leaders in Congress were under a cloud from the "Salary Grab" and Credit + Mobilier disclosures. ¹ + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_13-1" name="footer_13-1"></a> +¹ See <i>The Boss and the Machine,</i> by Samuel P. Orth + (in <i>The Chronicles of America).</i></p> +</div> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span> + The marvelous material development of the North and West also drew + attention away from sectional controversies. Settlers poured into the + plains beyond the Mississippi and the valleys of the Far West; new + industries sprang up; unsuspected mineral wealth was discovered; railroads + were built. Not only bankers but taxpaying voters took an interest in the + financial readjustments of the time. Many thousand people followed the + discussions over the funding and refunding of the national debt, the + retirement of the greenbacks, and the proposed lowering of tariff duties. + Yet the Black Friday episode of 1869, when Jay Gould and James Fisk + cornered the visible supply of gold, and the panic of 1873 were + indications of unsound financial conditions. + </p> + <p> + These new developments and the new domestic problems which they involved + all tended to divert public thought from the old political issues arising + out of the war. Foreign relations, too, began to take on a new interest. + The <i>Alabama</i> claims controversy with England continued to hold the + public attention until finally settled by the Geneva Arbitration in 1872. + President Grant, as much of an expansionist as Seward, for two years + (1869-71) tried to secure Santo Domingo or a part of it for an + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span> + American naval base in the West Indies. But the United States had race + problems enough already and the Senate, led by Sumner, refused to + sanction the acquisition. Relations with Spain were frequently strained + on account of American filibustering expeditions to aid Cuban insurgents. + Spain repeatedly charged the United States with laxness toward such + violations of international law; and President Grant, seeing no other + way out, recommended in 1869 and again in 1870 that the Cuban insurgents + be recognized as belligerents, but still the Senate held back. The climax + came in 1873, when the Spanish authorities in Cuba captured on the high + seas the <i>Virginius</i> ¹ with a filibustering expedition on board + and executed fifty-three of the crew and passengers, among them eight + Americans. For a time war seemed imminent, but Spain acted quickly and + effected a peaceable settlement. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_13-2" name="footer_13-2"></a> +¹ See <i>The Path of Empire,</i> by Carl Russell Fish + (in <i>The Chronicles of America</i>), p. 119.</p> +</div> + <p> + It became evident soon after 1867 that the issues involved in + reconstruction were not in themselves sufficient to hold the North solidly + Republican. Toward negro suffrage, for example, Northern public opinion + was on the whole unfriendly. In 1867 the negro was permitted to vote only + in New York + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span> + and in New England, except in Connecticut. Before 1869 negro + suffrage was rejected in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio, Maryland, + Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Republicans in their national + platform of 1868 went only so far as to say that, while negro suffrage was + to be forced upon the South, it must remain a local question in the North. + The Border States rapidly lined up with the white South on matters of + race, church, and politics. + </p> + <p> + It was not until 1874, however, that the changing opinion was made + generally effective in the elections. The skillfully managed radical + organization held large majorities in every Congress from the Thirty-ninth + to the Forty-third, and the electoral votes in 1868 and 1872 seemed to + show that the conservative opposition was insignificant. But these figures + do not tell the whole story. Even in 1864, when Lincoln won by nearly half + a million, the popular vote was as eighteen to twenty-two, and four years + later Grant, the most popular man in the United States, had a majority of + only three hundred thousand over Seymour, and this majority and more came + from the new negro voters. Four years later with about a million negro + voters available and an opposition not pleased with its own + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span> + candidate, Grant's majority reached only seven hundred thousand. At no + one time in elections did the North pronounce itself in favor of all the + reconstruction policies. The break, signs of which were visible as early + as 1869, came in 1874 when the Republicans lost control of the House of + Representatives. + </p> + <p> + Strength was given to the opposition because of the dissatisfaction with + President Grant, who knew little about politics and politicians. He felt + that his Cabinet should be made up of personal friends, not of strong + advisers, and that the military ideal of administration was the proper + one. He was faithful but undiscriminating in his friendships and + frequently chose as his associates men of vulgar tastes and low motives; + and he showed a naïve love of money and an undisguised admiration + for rich men such as Gould and Fisk. His appointees were often incompetent + friends or relatives, and his cynical attitude toward civil service reform + lost him the support of influential men. When forced by party exigencies + to select first-class men for his Cabinet, he still preferred to go for + advice to practical politicians. On the Southern question he easily fell + under control of the radicals, who in order to retain their influence had + only to convince + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span> + his military mind that the South was again in rebellion, and who found + it easy to distract public opinion from political corruption by + "waving the bloody shirt." Dissatisfaction with his Administration, it + is true, was confined to the intellectuals, the reformers, and the + Democrats, but they were strong enough to defeat him for a second term if + they could only be organized. + </p> + <p> + The Liberal Republican movement began in the West about 1869 with demands + for amnesty and for reform, particularly in the civil service, and it soon + spread rapidly over the North. When it became certain that the "machine" + would renominate Grant, the liberal movement became an anti-Grant party. + The "New Departure" Democrats gave comfort and prospect of aid to the + Liberal Republicans by declaring for a constructive, forward-looking + policy in place of reactionary opposition. The Liberal chiefs were led to + believe that the new Democratic leaders would accept their platform and + candidates in order to defeat Grant. The principal candidates for the + Liberal Republican nomination were Charles Francis Adams, Lyman Trumbull, + Gratz Brown, David Davis, and Horace Greeley. Adams was the strongest + candidate but was jockeyed out of place and the nomination was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span> + given to Horace Greeley, able enough as editor of the <i>New York + Tribune</i> but impossible as a candidate for the presidency. The + Democratic party accepted him as their candidate also, although he had + been a lifelong opponent of Democratic principles and policies. But + disgusted Liberals either returned to the Republican ranks or stayed away + from the polls, and many Democrats did likewise. Under these circumstances + the reëlection of Grant was a foregone conclusion. There was + certainly a potential majority against Grant, but the opposition had + failed to organize, while the Republican machine was in good working + order, the negroes were voting, and the Enforcement Acts proved a great + aid to the Republicans in the Southern States. + </p> + <p> + One good result of the growing liberal sentiment was the passage of an + Amnesty Act by Congress on May 22, 1872. By statute and by the Fourteenth + Amendment, Congress had refused to recognize the complete validity of + President Johnson's pardons and amnesty proclamations, and all Confederate + leaders who wished to regain political rights had therefore to appeal to + Congress. During the Forty-first Congress (1869-71) more than three + thousand Southerners were amnestied in order that they might hold office. + These, however, were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span> + for the most part scalawags; the most respectable whites would not seek + an amnesty which they could secure only by self-stultification. ¹ It + was the pressure of public opinion against white disfranchisement and the + necessity for meeting the Liberal Republican arguments which caused the + passage of the Act of 1872. By this act about 150,000 whites were + reënfranchised, leaving out only about five hundred of the most + prominent of the old régime, most of whom were never restored to + citizenship. Both Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis died disfranchised. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_13-3" name="footer_13-3"></a> +¹ The machinery of government and politics was all in + radical hands—the carpetbaggers and scalawags, who were + numerous enough to fill practically all the offices. These + men were often able leaders and skillful managers, and they + did not intend to surrender control; and the black race was + obedient and furnished the votes. In 1868, with Virginia, + Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas unrepresented, the first + radical contingent in Congress from the South numbered 42, + of whom 10 out of 12 senators and 26 out of 32 + representatives were carpetbaggers. There were two lone + conservative Congressmen. A few months later, in 1869, there + were 64 radical representatives from the South, 20 senators + and 44 members of the House of Representatives. In 1877 this + number had dwindled to two senators and four + representatives. The difference between these figures + measures in some degree the extent of the undoing of + reconstruction within the period of Grant's Administration.</p> +</div> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + How the Southern whites escaped from negro domination has often been told + and may here be sketched only in outline. The first States regained + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span> + from radicalism were those in which the negro population was small and the + black vote large enough to irritate but not to dominate. Although Northern + sentiment, excited by the stories of "Southern outrage," was then + unfavorable, the conservatives of the South, by organizing a "white man's + party" and by the use of Ku Klux methods, made a fight for social safety + which they won nearly everywhere, and, in addition, they gained political + control of several States—Tennessee in 1869, Virginia in 1869-1870, + and North Carolina and Georgia in 1870. They almost won Louisiana in 1868 + and Alabama in 1870, but the alarmed radicals came to the rescue of the + situation with the Fifteenth Amendment and the Enforcement Laws of + 1870-1871. With more troops and a larger number of deputy marshals it + seemed that the radicals might securely hold the remaining States. Arrests + of conservatives were numerous, plundering was at its height, the Federal + Government was interested and was friendly to the new Southern rulers, and + the carpetbaggers and scalawags feasted, troubled only by the disposition + of their negro supporters to demand a share of the spoils. Although the + whites made little gain from 1870 to 1874, the States already rescued + became more firmly conservative; + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span> + white counties here and there in the black States voted out the radicals; + a few more representatives of the whites got into Congress; and the Border + States ranged themselves more solidly with the conservatives. + </p> + <p> + But while the Southern whites were becoming desperate under oppression, + public opinion in the North was at last beginning to affect politics. The + elections of 1874 resulted in a Democratic landslide of which the + Administration was obliged to take notice. Grant now grew more responsive + to criticism. In 1875 he replied to a request for troops to hold down + Mississippi: "The whole public are tired out with these annual autumnal + outbreaks in the South and the great majority are ready now to condemn any + interference on the part of the Government." As soon as conditions in the + South were better understood in the North, ready sympathy and political + aid were offered by many who had hitherto acted with the radicals. The Ku + Klux report as well as the newspaper writings and the books of J. S. + Pike and Charles Nordhoff, both former opponents of slavery, opened the + eyes of many to the evil results of negro suffrage. Some who had been + considered friends of the negro, now believing that he had proven to + be a political failure, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span> + coldly abandoned him and turned their altruistic interests to other + objects more likely to succeed. Many real friends of the negro were + alarmed at the evils of the reconstruction and were anxious to see the + corrupt political leaders deprived of further influence over the race. To + others the constantly recurring Southern problem was growing stale and + they desired to hear less of it. Within the Republican party in each + Southern State there were serious divisions over the spoils. First it was + carpetbagger and negro against the scalawag; later, when the black leaders + insisted that those who furnished the votes must have the larger share of + the rewards, the fight became triangular. As a result, by 1874 the + Republican party in the South was split into factions and was deserted by + a large proportion of its white membership. + </p> + <p> + The conservative whites, fiercely resentful after their experiences under + the enforcement laws and hopeful of Northern sympathy, now planned a + supreme effort to regain their former power. Race lines were more strictly + drawn; ostracism of all that was radical became the rule; the Republican + party in the South, it was apparent, was doomed to be only a negro party + weighed down by the scandal of bad government; the state treasuries were + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> + bankrupt, and there was little further opportunity for plunder. These + considerations had much to do with the return of scalawags to the "white + man's party" and the retirement of carpetbaggers from Southern politics. + There was no longer anything in it, they said; let the negro have it! + </p> + <p> + It was under these conditions that the "white man's party" carried the + elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in 1874, and Mississippi in + 1875. Asserting that it was a contest between civilization and barbarism, + and that the whites under the radical régime had no opportunity to + carry an election legally, the conservatives openly made use of every + method of influencing the result that could possibly come within the + radical law and they even employed many effective methods that lay outside + the law. Negroes were threatened with discharge from employment and whites + with tar and feathers if they voted the radical ticket; there were + night-riding parties, armed and drilled "white leagues," and mysterious + firing of guns and cannon at night; much plain talk assailed the ears of + the radical leaders; and several bloody outbreaks occurred, principally in + Louisiana and Mississippi. Louisiana had been carried by the Democrats in + the fall of 1872, but the radical returning board had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span> + reversed the election. In 1874 the whites rose in rebellion and turned out + Kellogg, the usurping Governor, but President Grant intervened to restore + him to office. The "Mississippi" or "shot-gun plan" ¹ was very + generally employed, except where the contest was likely to go in favor of + the whites without the use of undue pressure. The white leaders exercised + a moderating influence, but the average white man had determined to do + away with negro government even though the alternative might be a return + of military rule. Congress investigated the elections in each State which + overthrew the reconstructionists, but nothing came of the inquiry and the + population rapidly settled down into good order. After 1875 only three + States were left under radical government—Louisiana and Florida, + where the returning boards could throw out any Democratic majority, and + South Carolina, where the negroes greatly outnumbered the whites. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_13-4" name="footer_13-4"></a> +¹ See <i>The New South,</i> by Holland Thompson + (in <i>The Chronicles of America</i>).</p> +</div> + + <p> + Reconstruction could hardly be a genuine issue in the presidential + campaign of 1876, because all except these three reconstructed States had + escaped from radical control, and there was no hope and + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span> + little real desire of regaining them. It was even expected that in this + year the radicals would lose Louisiana and Florida to the "white man's + party." The leaders of the best element of the Republicans, both North + and South, looked upon the reconstruction as one of the prime causes of + the moral breakdown of their party; they wanted no more of the Southern + issue but planned a forward-looking, constructive reform. + </p> + <p> + To some of the Republican leaders, however, among whom was James G. + Blaine, it was clear that the Republican party, with its unsavory record + under Grant's Administration, could hardly go before the people with a + reform program. The only possible thing to do was to revive some Civil War + issue—"wave the bloody shirt" and fan the smoldering embers of + sectional feeling. Blaine met with complete success in raising the desired + issue. In January 1876, when an amnesty measure was brought before the + House, he moved that Jefferson Davis be excepted on the ground that he was + responsible for the mistreatment of Union prisoners during the war. + Southern hot-bloods replied, and Blaine skillfully led them on until they + had foolishly furnished him with ample material for campaign purposes. + The feeling thus + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span> + aroused was so strong that it even galvanized into seeming life the dying + interest in the wrongs of the negro. The rallying cry "Vote as you shot!" + gave the Republicans something to fight for; the party referred to its war + record, claimed credit for preserving the Union, emancipating the negro, + and reconstructing the South, and demanded that the country be not + "surrendered to rebel rule." + </p> + <p> + Hayes and Tilden, the rival candidates for the presidency, were both men + of high character and of moderate views. Their nominations had been forced + by the better element of each party. Hayes, the Republican candidate, had + been a good soldier, was moderate in his views on Southern questions, and + had a clean political reputation. Tilden, his opponent, had a good record + as a party man and as a reformer, and his party needed only to attack the + past record of the Republicans. The principal Democratic weakness lay in + the fact that the party drew so much of its strength from the white South + and was therefore subjected to criticism on Civil War issues. + </p> + <p> + The campaign was hotly contested and was conducted on a low plane. Even + Hayes soon saw that the "bloody shirt" issue was the main vote winner. The + whites of the three "unredeemed" Southern + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span> + States nerved themselves for the final struggle. In South Carolina and in + some parishes of Louisiana there was a considerable amount of violence, + in which the whites had the advantage, and much fraud, which the + Republicans, who controlled the election machinery, turned to best + account. It has been said that out of the confusion which the Republicans + created they won the presidency. + </p> + <p> + The first election returns seemed to give Tilden the victory with 184 + undisputed electoral votes and popular majorities of ninety and over six + thousand respectively in Florida and Louisiana; only 185 votes were needed + for a choice. Hayes had 166 votes, not counting Oregon, in which one vote + was in dispute, and South Carolina, which for a time was claimed by both + parties. Had Louisiana and Florida been Northern States, there would have + been no controversy, but the Republican general headquarters knew that the + Democratic majorities in these States had to go through Republican + returning boards, which had never yet failed to throw them out. + </p> + <p> + The interest of the nation now centered around the action of the two + returning boards. At the suggestion of President Grant, prominent + Republicans went South to witness the count. Later + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> + prominent Democrats went also. These "visiting statesmen" were to support + the frail returning boards in their duty. It was generally understood that + these boards, certainly the one in Louisiana, were for sale, and there is + little doubt that the Democrats inquired the price. But they were afraid + to bid on such uncertain quantities as Governor Wells and T. C. + Anderson of Louisiana, both notorious spoilsmen. The members of the boards + in both States soon showed the stiffening effect of the moral support of + the Federal Administration and of the "visiting statesmen." Reassured as + to their political future, they proceeded to do their duty: in Florida + they threw out votes until the ninety majority for Tilden was changed to + 925 for Hayes, and in Louisiana, by throwing out about fifteen thousand + carefully selected ballots, they changed Tilden's lowest majority of six + thousand to a Hayes majority of nearly four thousand. Naturally the + Democrats sent in contesting returns, but the presidency was really won + when the Republicans secured in Louisiana and Florida returns which were + regular in form. But hoping to force Congress to go behind the returns, + the Democrats carried up contests also from Oregon and South Carolina, + whose votes properly belonged to Hayes. + </p> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span> + The final contest came in Congress over the counting of the electoral + votes. The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate shall, + in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all + the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted." But there was no + agreement as to where authority lay for deciding disputed votes. Never + before had the presidency turned on a disputed count. From 1864 to 1874 + the "twenty-second joint rule" had been in force under which either House + might reject a certificate. The votes of Georgia in 1868 and of Louisiana + in 1872 had thus been thrown out. But the rule had not been readopted by + the present Congress, and the Republicans very naturally would not listen + to a proposal to readopt it now. + </p> + <p> + With the country apparently on the verge of civil war, Congress finally + created by law an Electoral Commission to which were to be referred all + disputes about the counting of votes and the decision of which was to be + final unless both Houses concurred in rejecting it. The act provided that + the commission should consist of five senators, five representatives, four + designated associate justices of the Supreme Court, and a fifth associate + justice to be chosen by these four. While nothing was + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span> + said in the act + about the political affiliations of the members of the commission, every + one understood that the House would select three Democrats and two + Republicans, and that the Senate would name two Democrats and three + Republicans. It was also well known that of the four justices designated + two were Republicans and two Democrats, and it was tacitly agreed that the + fifth would be Justice David Davis, an "independent." But at the last + moment Davis was elected Senator by the Illinois Legislature and declined + to serve on the Commission. Justice Bradley, a Republican, was then named + as the fifth justice, and in this way the Republicans obtained a majority + on the Commission. + </p> + <p> + The Democrats deserve the credit for the Electoral Commission. The + Republicans did not favor it, even after they were sure of a party + majority on it. They were conscious that they had a weak case, and they + were afraid to trust it to judges of the Supreme Court. Their fears were + groundless, however, since all important questions were decided by an 8 to + 7 vote, Bradley voting with his fellow Republicans. Every contested vote + was given to Hayes, and with 185 electoral votes he was declared elected + on March 2, 1877. + </p> + <p> + Ten years before, Senator Morton of Indiana had + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span> + said: "I would have been in favor of having the colored people of the + South wait a few years until they were prepared for the suffrage, until + they were to some extent educated, but the necessities of the times + forbade that; the conditions of things required that they should be + brought to the polls at once." Now the condition of things required that + some arrangement be made with the Southern whites which would involve a + complete reversal of the situation of 1867. In order to secure the + unopposed succession of Hayes, to defeat filibustering which might + endanger the decision of the Electoral Commission, politicians who could + speak with authority for Hayes assured influential Southern politicians, + who wanted no more civil war but who did want home rule, that an + arrangement might be made which would be satisfactory to both sides. + </p> + <p> + So the contest was ended. Hayes was to be President; the South, with the + negro, was to be left to the whites; there would be no further military + aid to carpetbag governments. In so far as the South was concerned, it was + a fortunate settlement—better, indeed, than if Tilden had been + inducted into office. The remnants of the reconstruction policy were + surrendered by a Republican President, + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span> + the troops were soon withdrawn, and the three radical States fell at once + under the control of the whites. Hayes could not see in his election any + encouragement to adopt a vigorous radical position, and Congress was + deadlocked on party issues for fifteen years. As a result the radical + Republicans had to develop other interests, and the North gradually + accepted the Southern situation. + </p> + <hr class="break" /> + <p> + Although the radical policy of reconstruction came to an end in 1877, some + of its results were more lasting. The Southern States were burdened + heavily with debt, much of which had been fraudulently incurred. There now + followed a period of adjustment, of refunding, scaling, and repudiation, + which not only injured the credit of the States but left them with + enormous debts. The Democratic party under the leadership of former + Confederates began its régime of strict economy, race fairness, + and inelastic Jeffersonianism. There was a political rest which almost + amounted to stagnation and which the leaders were unwilling to disturb by + progressive measures lest a developing democracy make trouble with the + settlement of 1877. + </p> + <p> + The undoing of reconstruction was not entirely completed with the + understanding of 1877. There + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> + remained a large but somewhat shattered Republican party in the South, + with control over county and local government in many negro districts. + Little by little the Democrats rooted out these last vestiges of negro + control, using all the old radical methods and some improvements,¹ + such as tissue ballots, the shuffling of ballot boxes, bribery, force, + and redistricting, while some regions were placed entirely under + executive control and were ruled by appointed commissions. With the + good government which followed these changes a deadlocked Congress + showed no great desire to interfere. The Supreme Court came to the aid + of the Democrats with decisions in 1875, 1882, and 1883 which drew the + teeth from the Enforcement Laws, and Congress in 1894 repealed what + was left of these regulations. + </p> + <div class="footer"> + <p> + <a id="footer_13-5" name="footer_13-5"></a> +¹ See <i>The New South,</i> by Holland Thompson + (in <i>The Chronicles of America</i>).</p> +</div> + + + <p> + Under such discouraging conditions the voting strength of the Republicans + rapidly melted away. The party organization existed for the Federal + offices only and was interested in keeping down the number of those who + desired to be rewarded. As a consequence, the leaders could work in + harmony with those Democratic chiefs who were content with a "solid South" + and local home rule. The negroes + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> + of the Black Belt, with less enthusiasm and hope, but with quite the same + docility as in 1868, began to vote as the Democratic leaders directed. + This practice brought up in another form the question of "negro + government" and resulted in a demand from the people of the white counties + that the negro be put entirely out of politics. The answer came between + 1890 to 1902 in the form of new and complicated election laws or new + constitutions which in various ways shut out the negro from the polls and + left the government to the whites. Three times have the Black Belt regions + dominated the Southern States: under slavery, when the master class + controlled; under reconstruction, when the leaders of the negroes had + their own way; and after reconstruction until negro disfranchisement, + when the Democratic dictators of the negro vote ruled fairly but not + always acceptably to the white counties which are now the source of their + political power. + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <p> + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span> + <a name="Biblio" id="Biblio"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + </div> + <h2> + <a href="#Contents">Bibliographical Note.</a> + </h2> + <p class="noindent"><span class="first-word">The</span> + best general accounts of the reconstruction period are found in James + Ford Rhodes's <i>History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 + to the Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877,</i> volumes V, VI, + VII (1906); in William A. Dunning's <i>Reconstruction, Political and + Economic, 1865-1877</i>, in the <i>American Nation</i> Series, volume + XXII (1907); and in Peter Joseph Hamilton's <i>The Reconstruction + Period</i> (1905), which is volume XVI of <i>The History of North + America,</i> edited by F. N. Thorpe. The work of Rhodes is spacious + and fair-minded but there are serious gaps in his narrative; Dunning's + briefer account covers the entire field with masterly handling; Hamilton's + history throws new light on all subjects and is particularly useful for + an understanding of the Southern point of view. A valuable discussion of + constitutional problems is contained in William A. Dunning's <i>Essay on + the Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics</i> (1904); and a + criticism of the reconstruction policies from the point of view of + political science and constitutional law is to be found in J. W. + Burgess's <i>Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876</i> (1902). + E. B. Andrews's <i>The United States in our own Time</i> (1903) gives + a popular treatment of the later period. A collection of brief monographs + entitled <i>Why the Solid South?</i> by Hilary A. Herbert and others + (1890) was written as a + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span> + campaign document to offset the drive made by the Republicans in 1889 + for new enforcement laws. + </p> + <p> + There are many scholarly monographs on reconstruction in the several + States. The best of these are: J. W. Garner's <i>Reconstruction in + Mississippi</i> (1901), W. L. Fleming's <i>Civil War and + Reconstruction in Alabama</i> (1905), J. G. deR. Hamilton's + <i>Reconstruction in North Carolina</i> (1914), W. W. Davis's + <i>The Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida</i> (1913), J. S. + Reynolds's <i>Reconstruction in South Carolina, 1865-1877</i> (1905); + C. W. Ramsdell's <i>Reconstruction in Texas</i> (1910), and + C. M. Thompson's <i>Reconstruction in Georgia</i> (1915). + </p> + <p> + Books of interest on special phases of reconstruction are not numerous, + but among those deserving mention are Paul S. Pierce's <i>The Freedmen's + Bureau</i> (1904), D. M. DeWitt's <i>The Impeachment and Trial of + Andrew Johnson</i> (1903), and Paul L. Haworth's <i>The Hayes-Tilden + Disputed Presidential Election of 1876</i> (1906), each of which is a + thorough study of its field. J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson's + <i>Ku Klux Klan</i> (1905) and M. L. Avary's <i>Dixie After the + War</i> (1906) contribute much to a fair understanding of the feeling of + the whites after the Civil War; and Gideon Welles, <i>Diary,</i> 3 vols. + (1911), is a mine of information from a conservative cabinet officer's + point of view. + </p> + <p> + For the politician's point of view one may go to James G. Blaine's + <i>Twenty Years of Congress,</i> 2 vols. (1884, 1886) and Samuel S. + Cox's <i>Three Decades of Federal Legislation</i> (1885). Good + biographies are James A. Woodburn's <i>The Life of Thaddeus Stevens</i> + (1913), Moorfield Storey's <i>Charles Sumner</i> (1900), C. F. + Adams's <i>Charles Francis Adams</i> (1900). Less satisfactory because + more partisan is Edward Stanwood's <i>James + <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> + Gillespie Blaine</i> (1906). There are no adequate biographies of the + Democratic and Southern leaders. + </p> + <p> + The official documents are found conveniently arranged in William + McDonald's <i>Select Statutes, 1861-1898</i> (1903), and also with other + material in Walter L. Fleming's <i>Documentary History of + Reconstruction,</i> 2 vols. (1906, 1907). The general reader is usually + repelled by the collections known as <i>Public Documents.</i> The + valuable <i>Ku Klux Trials</i> (1872) is, however, separately printed + and to be found in most good libraries. By a judicious use of the + indispensable <i>Tables and Index to Public Documents,</i> one can find + much vividly interesting material in connection with contested election + cases and reports of congressional investigations into conditions in the + South. + </p> +<div class="chapterhead"> + <a name="indexChapter" id="indexChapter"></a> + <br /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span> + <br /><br /><br /> + <h2><a href="#Contents">INDEX</a></h2> + <p><br /></p> + </div> + <div id="index"> + + + <h3>A.</h3> + <p> +Abolitionists, views on reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_060">60</a>-<a href="#Page_061">61</a>.<br /> +Adams, C. F., candidate for presidential nomination, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.<br /> +<i>Advertiser</i>, Boston, + Sidney Andrews as correspondent for, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>.<br /> +<i>Advertiser</i> of Montgomery, + and education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Agriculture in the South, + <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a>, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, + <a href="#Page_273">273</a>-<a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br /> +Alabama, corruption, + <a href="#Page_010">10</a>-<a href="#Page_011">11</a>; + poverty, <a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + Protestant Episcopal churches closed, <a href="#Page_023">23</a>; + labor, <a href="#Page_047">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>; + negro legislation, <a href="#Page_097">97</a>; + courts, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>; + and Fourteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + constitutional convention, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>; + constitution, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>, + <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; + abstention policy, + <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>; + readmitted, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + Union League in, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>; + negro churches, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>; + illiterate magistrates, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>; + negro legislators, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>; + taxes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>; + public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + decrease in property values, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>; + value of railroads, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>; + negro voting, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>; + two governments in, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>; + legislature, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>; + vigilance committee, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>; + Ku Klux in, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>; + partially Democratic in 1870, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>; + permits mixed marriages, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>; + election (1874), <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br /> +<i>Alabama</i> claims, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +Alabama, University of, <a href="#Page_003">3</a>, + <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +Alexandria (Va.), + Virginia Government transferred to, <a href="#Page_065">65</a>, + <a href="#Page_074">74</a>.<br /> +Alvord, J. W., quoted, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.<br /> +Amendments, + <i>see</i> <a href="#indexConstitution">Constitution</a>.<br /> +Ames, General Adelbert, + commands military district, <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>.<br /> +Amnesty, Johnson's proclamation, + <a href="#Page_009">9</a>, <a href="#Page_075">75</a>; + use of pardoning power, <a href="#Page_087">87</a>; + Act of 1872, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>-<a href="#Page_289">289</a>; + measure (1876), <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.<br /> +Anderson, T. C., of Louisiana, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +Andrew, J. A., Governor of Massachusetts, + reconstruction policy, + <a href="#Page_061">61</a>-<a href="#Page_062">62</a>, + <a href="#Page_068">68</a>.<br /> +Andrews, General Garnett, on fear of negroes, + <a href="#Page_278">278</a>.<br /> +Andrews, Sidney, correspondent for Boston <i>Advertiser</i>, + <a href="#Page_028">28</a>.<br /> +Appomattox, Grant at, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>.<br /> +Arkansas, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + recognizes "Union" State government, <a href="#Page_018">18</a>; + Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1862), + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>; + Johnson recognizes government, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + negro labor, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + representatives refused admission to Congress, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; + abstention policy in regard to constitution, + <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>; + scalawags in, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + corruption, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>; + railroad grant, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>; + split in state government, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>; + election (1874), <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br /> +Armstrong's Hampton Institute, <i>see</i> + <a href="#indexHamptonInstitute">Hampton Institute</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> +<a name="indexArmy" id="indexArmy"></a> +Army, + officers assist civil authorities in South, + <a href="#Page_075">75</a>-<a href="#Page_076">76</a>; + utilizes negro labor, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>-<a href="#Page_100">100</a>; + military rule in South, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexOccupation">Occupation, Army of</a>.<br /> +Ashley, J. M., of Ohio, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +Atlanta (Ga.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>.<br /> +Attakapas Parish (La.), Ku Klux incident, + <a href="#Page_254">254</a>-<a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>B.</h3> +<p> +Banks, General Nathaniel, and captured slaves, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>.<br /> +Baptist Church, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.<br /> +Beauregard, General P. G. T., on negro suffrage, + <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_148">148</a>.<br /> +Bingham, J. A., and impeachment of Johnson, + <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Black, Jeremiah, and impeachment of Johnson, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +"Black Belt," post-war condition, + <a href="#Page_040">40</a>-<a href="#Page_041">41</a>; + industrial revolution in, + <a href="#Page_265">265</a>-<a href="#Page_267">267</a>; + and whites, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>; + cotton production, <a href="#footer_12-2">271-272 (note)</a>; + domination of South by, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>; + <i>see</i> also <a href="#indexSouth">South</a>.<br /> +Black Cavalry, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Black Friday episode, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexBlackLaws" id="indexBlackLaws"></a> +"Black Laws," + <a href="#Page_089">89</a>-<a href="#Page_090">90</a>, + <a href="#Page_093">93</a>-<a href="#Page_098">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexNegroes">Negroes</a>, + <a href="#indexLegislation">legislation</a>.<br /> +Blaine, J. G., quoted, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + and Republican party, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.<br /> +Blair, F. P., of Missouri, Democratic nomination (1868), + <a href="#Page_168">168</a>-<a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br /> +"Bloody shirt" issue in campaign of 1876, + <a href="#Page_295">295</a>-<a href="#Page_296">296</a>.<br /> +Border States, reconstruction in, + <a href="#Page_085">85</a>-<a href="#Page_086">86</a>; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexSouth">South</a>.<br /> +Botts, J. M., of Virginia, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +Boutwell, G. S., radical leader, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + and tenure of office act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + and impeachment of Johnson, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Boynton, General H. V. N., on Southern need of supplies, + <a href="#Page_005">5</a>-<a href="#Page_006">6</a>.<br /> +Bradley, Justice J. P., on electoral commission, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +"Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity," + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br /> +Brown, J. E., Governor of Georgia, and negro education, + <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Brown, Gratz, candidate for presidential nomination, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.<br /> +Brownlow, W. G., Governor of Tennessee, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> +Bruce, B. K., negro senator, <a href="#footer_10-4">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +Buchanan, General R. C., + commands military district in South, + <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>.<br /> +Bullock County (Ala.), Union League in, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.<br /> +Butler, General B. F., and negro labor, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + radical, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + and impeachment of Johnson, + <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>C.</h3> +<p> +Campbell, Judge, Lincoln gives reconstruction terms to, + <a href="#Page_067">67</a>.<br /> +Canby, General, + commands military department in South, + <a href="#footer_06-1">140-141 (note)</a>, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br /> +Cardozo, school official in Mississippi, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +Carpetbaggers, appointed to Federal offices, <a href="#Page_080">80</a>; + in radical Republican party, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>; + in conventions, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>; + and Union League, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>; + and religion, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>; + rule in South, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + use of term, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + and equal rights issue, + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>-<a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + government in hands of, <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>; + against scalawags, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>.<br /> +Carter, Speaker of Louisiana Legislature, + and railroad bills, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> +Catholic Church, <a href="#Page_023">23</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br /> +Chamberlain, D. H., Governor of South Carolina, + <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +Charleston (S. C.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>.<br /> +Chase, S. P., counsels against seizure of cotton, + <a href="#Page_009">9</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_050">50</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + opposed to military reconstruction, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> + advises Johnson against suspending Stanton, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + and impeachment of Johnson, + <a href="#Page_166">166</a>-<a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> +Civil Rights Act, + <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +Clanton, General J. H., of Alabama, + on position of whites, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +Clayton, Judge, of Alabama, opinion of Freedmen's Bureau, + <a href="#Page_090">90</a>.<br /> +Clayton, Mrs., + <i>Black and White under the Old Régime</i>, + quoted, <a href="#Page_038">38</a>-<a href="#Page_039">39</a>.<br /> +Cleveland, soldiers' and sailors' convention at, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + Union League formed (1862), + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>-<a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +Clinton (Miss.), race conflict in, + <a href="#footer_10-4">237 (note)</a>.<br /> +Cloud, school official in Alabama, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +Colfax, Schuyler, candidate for Vice President (1868), + <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.<br /> +Colfax (La.), race conflict in, <a href="#footer_10-4">237 (note)</a>.<br /> +Columbia (S. C.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>.<br /> +Congress, impatient of executive precedence, + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>-<a href="#Page_066">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + and Southern representatives, + <a href="#Page_080">80</a>, <a href="#Page_086">86</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a>; + refuses to recognize reconstructed governments, <a href="#Page_081">81</a>; + Joint Committee on Reconstruction, <a href="#Page_082">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#footer_12-1">266 (note)</a>; + Fourteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_082">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_085">85</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexConstitution">Constitution</a>; + radical reconstruction plans, + <a href="#Page_083">83</a>-<a href="#Page_084">84</a>; + radicalism, <a href="#Page_083">83</a>-<a href="#Page_084">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a> <i>et seq.</i>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>; + Civil Rights Act, + <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, + <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>; + and Johnson, <a href="#Page_126">126</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + assumes control of reconstruction, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_142">142</a>-<a href="#Page_143">143</a>; + Tenure of Office Act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + Army Appropriation Act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + reconstruction acts, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_137">137</a>, + <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>; + supreme control, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>; + and Supreme Court, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_159">159</a>; + impeachment of President, <a href="#Page_160">160</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + and Grant, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + negro members, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>; + Committee on the Condition of the South, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>; + Committee on the Late Insurrectionary States, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>; + enforcement acts, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>, + <a href="#Page_261">261</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a>; + "Ku Klux Bill," <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + committee to investigate conditions in Southern States, + <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + Amnesty Act (1872), <a href="#Page_288">288</a>-<a href="#Page_289">289</a>; + decline of radicalism, <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a>; + investigates election, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>; + amnesty measure (1876), <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; + Electoral Commission, + <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_300">300</a>; + deadlocked by party issues, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.<br /> +Connecticut and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexConstitution" id="indexConstitution"></a> +Constitution, Johnson and, <a href="#Page_072">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>; + Thirteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_079">79</a>; + Fourteenth Amendment, + <a href="#Page_082">82</a>, <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_085">85</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>-<a href="#Page_133">133</a>, + <a href="#Page_135">135</a>-<a href="#Page_136">136</a>, + <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_172">172</a>; + Fifteenth Amendment, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>-<a href="#Page_170">170</a>, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<br /> +Constitutional conventions in South, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a> <i>et seq</i>. <br /> +Constitutional Union Guards, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Conway, school official in Louisiana, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +Copperheads, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +Cotton, tax on, <a href="#Page_008">8</a>; + seized, <a href="#Page_009">9</a>-<a href="#Page_011">11</a>; + destruction of, <a href="#Page_011">11</a>; + production (1880), <a href="#footer_12-2">271-272 (note)</a>.<br /> +Council of Safety, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Coushatta (La.), race conflict in, <a href="#footer_10-4">237 (note)</a>.<br /> +Cowan, administration Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +Credit Mobilier, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +Crittenden-Johnson resolutions, <a href="#Page_055">55</a>, + <a href="#Page_069">69</a>.<br /> +Cuba, United States and, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +Cumberland Presbyterian Church, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> + +Cummings <i>vs</i>. Missouri, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br /> +Curry, J. L. M., and negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a>-<a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +Curtis, B. R., counsel at impeachment, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>D.</h3> +<p> +Davis, David, candidate for presidential nomination, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>; + and Electoral Commission, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +Davis, Jefferson, prayer in Church for, <a href="#Page_023">23</a>; + succeeded by negro in Senate, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>; + disfranchised, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>; + and amnesty, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>.<br /> +Davis, Nicholas, characterizes Lakin, + <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_206">206</a>.<br /> +De Bow, J. D. B., on negro labor, + <a href="#footer_12-1">266 (note)</a>.<br /> +Democratic party, and Crittenden-Johnson resolutions, + <a href="#Page_055">55</a>, <a href="#Page_069">69</a>; + at end of war, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + Douglas Democrats, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>, <a href="#Page_087">87</a>; + and Johnson, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>, <a href="#Page_088">88</a>, + <a href="#Page_138">138</a>; + "Democratic and Conservative" party, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>; + platform (1868), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>; + Union League and, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#Page_190">190</a>-<a href="#Page_191">191</a>; + in Congress from South, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>; + Southern Unionists turn to, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>; + and Civil Rights Act, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>; + "New Departure," Democrats, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>; + supports Greeley, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; + and election of 1876, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a>-<a href="#Page_298">298</a>; + and Electoral Commission, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>; + during period of adjustment, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, + <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +Dennison, William, resigns from Cabinet, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +District of Columbia, negro suffrage in, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + corruption, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +Dixon, James, administration Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +Dixon, W. H., <a href="#Page_029">29</a>.<br /> +Doolittle, administration Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +Douglass, Frederick, quoted, + <a href="#Page_037">37</a>-<a href="#Page_038">38</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>E.</h3> +<p> +Eaton, John, chaplain in Grant's army, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>.<br /> +Eaton, Colonel John, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> +Education, negro, <a href="#Page_045">45</a>; + Freedmen's Bureau and, + <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>; + in South, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a>.<br /> +Elections under carpetbag rule, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a>-<a href="#Page_239">239</a>.<br /> +Electoral Commission, + <a href="#Page_299">299</a>-<a href="#Page_300">300</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexEmancipationProc" id="indexEmancipationProc"></a> +Emancipation Proclamation, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +Enforcement acts, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_261">261</a>, + <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, + <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +Episcopal Church, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +Evarts, W. M., counsel at impeachment, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Ewing, Thomas, nominated Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>F.</h3> +<p> +Fessenden, General, Freedmen's Bureau official, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br /> +Fessenden, W. P., moderate Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexFinance" id="indexFinance"></a> +Finance, post-war condition in South, + <a href="#Page_002">2</a>, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>; + war taxes, <a href="#Page_008">8</a>; + license taxes, <a href="#Page_076">76</a>; + repudiation of Confederate war debt, <a href="#Page_077">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + under military governors, + <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_146">146</a>; + effect of bad government in South, + <a href="#Page_230">230</a>-<a href="#Page_236">236</a>; + credit system, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>; + readjustments, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>; + panic of 1873, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +Fish, C. R., <i>The Path of Empire</i>, cited, + <a href="#footer_13-2">284 (note)</a>.<br /> +Fisk, General, criticism of Kentucky Legislature, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +Fisk, James, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, + <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +Florida, negro colony in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + negro legislation, <a href="#Page_096">96</a>; + and Fourteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>; + recitation in negro school, + <a href="#Page_218">218</a>-<a href="#Page_219">219</a>; + and reconstruction government, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; + corruption, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>; + taxes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>; + decrease in property values, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>; + Equal Rights Law, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + and radicals, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; + election of 1876, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +Forrest, General, Grand Wizard of Ku Klux, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, + <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span> + +Freedmen, <i>see</i> <a href="#indexNegroes">Negroes</a>.<br /> +Freedmen's Aid Societies, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, + <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<a id="indexFreedmensBureau" name="indexFreedmensBureau"></a> +Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_038">38</a>, + <a href="#Page_081">81</a>, <a href="#Page_082">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_085">85</a>, <a href="#Page_086">86</a>, + <a href="#Page_090">90</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>; + confiscable property turned over to, <a href="#Page_011">11</a>; + official describes conditions in South, + <a href="#Page_013">13</a>-<a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + as relief agency, <a href="#Page_015">15</a>; + in Kentucky, <a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + as publicity agent, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + and contract labor, <a href="#Page_046">46</a>; + on relations between races, <a href="#Page_048">48</a>; + agitators from, <a href="#Page_053">53</a>; + extension, + <a href="#Page_074">74</a>, <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>; + and negroes, + <a href="#Page_080">80</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, + <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>; + views of North carried out in, <a href="#Page_089">89</a>; + influence on legislation and government, <a href="#Page_094">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_097">97</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>; + officials of, <a href="#Page_097">97</a>, + <a href="#Page_098">98</a>-<a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + character of, <a href="#Page_098">98</a>; + established (1865), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>-<a href="#Page_103">103</a>; + functions, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a>-<a href="#Page_104">104</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a>; + objections to, + <a href="#Page_104">104</a>-<a href="#Page_105">105</a>, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a>; + organization, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>-<a href="#Page_107">107</a>; + courts, + <a href="#Page_110">110</a>-<a href="#Page_111">111</a>, + <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_114">114</a>; + educational work, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>-<a href="#Page_112">112</a>; + political possibilities, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>; + results, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>-<a href="#Page_117">117</a>; + and radicals, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>; + Union League and, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, + <a href="#footer_08-3">194 (note)</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>; + negro education, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexFreedmensBureauAct" id="indexFreedmensBureauAct"></a> +Freedmen's Bureau Act, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.<br /> +Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.<br /> +"Freedmen's Readers," <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> +Frémont, J. C., and the radicals, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +Fullerton, General, and Freedmen's Bureau, + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; + on treatment of negroes, + <a href="#Page_112">112</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>G.</h3> +<p> +Garfield, J. A., <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br /> +Garland, <i>ex parte</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br /> +Geneva Arbitration (1872), <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +Georgetown (D. C.), vote on negro suffrage in, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +Georgia, poverty in, <a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + government relief, <a href="#Page_015">15</a>; + negro colony in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + courts, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; + military government, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + suit against Stanton, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>; + military rule resumed, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + reconstruction in, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>-<a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; + legislature, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>; + representatives in Congress, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, + <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + Godkin characterizes officials of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>; + holds mixed marriages illegal, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + conservatives gain control in, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>; + election (1868), <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br /> +Gillem, General, commands military department, + <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>.<br /> +Godkin, E. L., quoted, <a href="#footer_08-2">180 (note)</a>; + on Georgia politicians, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> +Gordon, J. B., and negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Gould, Jay, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>.<br /> +Grant, U. S., + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, + <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>; + urges use of white troops in South, <a href="#Page_021">21</a>; + orders arrest of paroled Confederates, <a href="#Page_022">22</a>; + report on South, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>, <a href="#Page_029">29</a>; + protests arrest of Southern military leaders, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + and captured slaves, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + and Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>; + Army Appropriation Act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + radicalism, <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>, + <a href="#Page_239">239</a>-<a href="#Page_240">240</a>; + Congress gives full powers to, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>; + temporarily Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + and Stanton, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>; + nominated by National Union party, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>; + elected President, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>; + reconstruction, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + and enforcement acts, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + expansionist, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a>; + vote for, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a>; + appointees, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>; + reëlection, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; + refuses to interfere in Mississippi, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>; + restores Kellogg to office, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +Greeley, Horace, candidate for Presidency, + <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-<a href="#Page_288">288</a>.<br /> +Greene, S. S., quoted, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +Groesbeck, W. S., counsel at impeachment, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Guthrie, James, Democratic leader, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> +<h3>H.</h3> +<p> +Hahn, Michael, Governor of Louisiana, Lincoln's letter to, + <a href="#Page_066">66</a>-<a href="#Page_067">67</a>.<br /> +<i>Hail Columbia</i> sung at Union League initiation, + <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +Halleck, General H. W., orders in regard to marriage, + <a href="#Page_020">20</a>.<br /> +Hampton, General Wade, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>; + letter to Johnson, <a href="#Page_031">31</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_051">51</a>; + and Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexHamptonInstitute" id="indexHamptonInstitute"></a> +Hampton Institute, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>; + teacher's remark on negro education, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Hancock, General W. S., + commands military department, <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>, + <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br /> +Hardee, General W. J., quoted, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> +Harlan, James, resigns from Cabinet, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +Harris, I. G., on Johnson, <a href="#Page_072">72</a>.<br /> +Hayes, R. B., candidate for presidency, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>; + elected, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.<br /> +Hell Hole Swamp, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br /> +Hendricks, T. A., Democratic leader, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<i>Herald</i>, New York, + Knox as correspondent of, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + on radical reconstruction, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.<br /> +Heroes of America, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Hill, B. H., of Georgia, and "Jim Crow" theory, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +Hill, General D. H., of North Carolina, + <a href="#footer_12-3">279 (note)</a>.<br /> +Hill, Thomas, President of Harvard, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br /> +Holden, W. W., + provisional governor of North Carolina, + <a href="#Page_075">75</a>, <a href="#Page_077">77</a>, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + and Union League, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +Home Guards, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Howard, General O. O., + head of Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br /> +Humphreys, B. G., Governor of Mississippi, + opinion of Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_090">90</a>; + advocates civil equality, <a href="#Page_091">91</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>I.</h3> +<p> +Immigration to South, negroes against, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.<br /> +Impeachment of President, <a href="#Page_160">160</a> <i>et seq</i>.<br /> +Irish, South Carolina imports, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>J.</h3> +<p> +Jackson (Miss.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>.<br /> +Jews in South, <a href="#Page_023">23</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>.<br /> +Jillson, school official in South Carolina, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +"Jim Crow," car, <a href="#Page_095">95</a>; + theory of "separate but equal" rights, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.<br /> +<i>John Brown's Body</i> sung in Union League initiation, + <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.<br /> +Johnson, Andrew, amnesty proclamation, <a href="#Page_009">9</a>, + <a href="#Page_075">75</a>; + policies opposed by Andrews, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_050">50</a>, <a href="#Page_078">78</a>; + reconstruction policy, <a href="#Page_057">57</a>-<a href="#Page_058">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_073">73</a> <i>et seq</i>., <a href="#Page_083">83</a>; + military governor of Tennessee, <a href="#Page_065">65</a>; + nomination, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + personal characteristics, + <a href="#Page_071">71</a>-<a href="#Page_072">72</a>, + <a href="#Page_073">73</a>; + adopts Lincoln's policy, <a href="#Page_073">73</a>, + <a href="#Page_088">88</a>; + and Congress, <a href="#Page_080">80</a> <i>et seq</i>., + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>-<a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_126">126</a> <i>et seq</i>., <a href="#Page_288">288</a>; + use of pardoning power, <a href="#Page_087">87</a>; + speechmaking tour to the West, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>; + impeachment, <a href="#Page_158">158</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + and Stanton, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>-<a href="#Page_165">165</a>.<br /> +Johnson, Reverdy, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>K.</h3> +<p> +Kansas and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Kelley, "Pig Iron," of Pennsylvania, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> +Kellogg, W. P., Governor of Louisiana, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +Kentucky, Confederates in, + <a href="#Page_025">25</a>-<a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + and abolition of slavery, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + exception in reconstruction problem, <a href="#Page_086">86</a>.<br /> +Knights of the Golden Circle, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexKnightsWC" id="indexKnightsWC"></a> +Knights of the White Camelia, + <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>-<a href="#Page_252">252</a>, + <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br /> +Knox, T. W., correspondent for New York <i>Herald</i>, + <a href="#Page_028">28</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span> +Ku Klux Klan, + <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, + <a href="#Page_243">243</a> <i>et seq</i>., <a href="#Page_290">290</a>; + development, <a href="#Page_049">49</a>, + <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_246">246</a>; + and Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>; + and Union League, <a href="#footer_08-3">194 (note)</a>; + activities, + <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a> <i>et seq.</i>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>-<a href="#Page_264">264</a>; + organization, + <a href="#Page_246">246</a>-<a href="#Page_249">249</a>; + objects, + <a href="#Page_249">249</a>-<a href="#Page_250">250</a>, + <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>; + report of Federal commanders, + <a href="#Page_250">250</a>-<a href="#Page_251">251</a>; + political effects, + <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + "Ku Klux Act," + <a href="#Page_261">261</a>-<a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>L.</h3> +<p> +Labor, free negro, + <a href="#Page_045">45</a>-<a href="#Page_047">47</a>, + <a href="#Page_266">266</a>-<a href="#Page_267">267</a>, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a>-<a href="#Page_273">273</a>; + Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_046">46</a>, + <a href="#Page_109">109</a>-<a href="#Page_110">110</a>, + <a href="#Page_266">266</a>; + testimony of Joint Committee concerning, <a href="#Page_082">82</a>; + importation of labor, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>.<br /> +Lakin, Rev. A. S., + agent of Northern Methodist Church in Alabama, + <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_206">206</a>, + <a href="#Page_207">207</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +Land, price after Civil War, <a href="#Page_004">4</a>; + fertilizers for, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, + <a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +Lanier, Sidney, letter to Taylor, quoted, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a>.<br /> +Latham, Henry, <a href="#Page_029">29</a>.<br /> +Lee, General R. E., + president of Washington College, + <a href="#Page_017">17</a>-<a href="#Page_018">18</a>; + and his uniform, <a href="#Page_020">20</a>; + letter to Letcher, <a href="#Page_031">31</a>, <a href="#Page_032">32</a>; + kneels beside negro in church, <a href="#Page_044">44</a>; + witness before Joint Committee, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + and military reconstruction, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>; + disfranchised, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexLegislation" id="indexLegislation"></a> +Legislation, Negro, <i>see</i> + <a href="#indexBlackLaws">"Black Laws."</a><br /> +Leslie, South Carolina carpetbagger, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +Letcher, John, Governor of Virginia, Lee writes to, + <a href="#Page_031">31</a>, <a href="#Page_032">32</a>.<br /> +Lewis, D. P., of Alabama, and Union League, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +Lincoln, Abraham, + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_050">50</a>, + <a href="#Page_066">66</a>-<a href="#Page_067">67</a>; + reconstruction policy, + <a href="#Page_055">55</a>-<a href="#Page_057">57</a>, + <a href="#Page_058">58</a>, <a href="#Page_062">62</a>; + and Wade-Davis Bill, <a href="#Page_056">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_066">66</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + last speech quoted, + <a href="#Page_056">56</a>-<a href="#Page_057">57</a>; + reconstruction plan put to trial, + <a href="#Page_063">63</a>-<a href="#Page_068">68</a>; + Proclamation of December, 1863, <a href="#Page_064">64</a>, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; + and Congress, + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>-<a href="#Page_066">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_067">67</a>-<a href="#Page_068">68</a>; + nominated by National Union party (1864), <a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + second Cabinet, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; + vote for (1864), <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Lincoln Brotherhood, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br /> +Lindsay, R. B., Governor of Alabama, + on Northern missionaries, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<br /> +Longstreet, General James, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.<br /> +Louisiana, recognizes "Union" state government, + <a href="#Page_018">18</a>; + Whitelaw Reid in, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1862), + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>; + Johnson recognizes government of, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + treatment of negroes by army in, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + Freedmen's Bureau courts in, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>; + representatives refused admission to Congress, + <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + military government in, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + negro voters, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>; + equal rights legislation, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>; + carpetbag rule, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; + conservatives, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>; + corruption, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, + <a href="#Page_233">233</a>-<a href="#Page_234">234</a>, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a>; + legislature, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>; + taxes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>; + public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + decrease in property values, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>; + negro militia, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>-<a href="#Page_237">237</a>, + two governments in, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>; + government over-turned, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">241</a>, + omitted from Federal investigation, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + labor, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; + elections, + <a href="#Page_293">293</a>-<a href="#Page_294">294</a>, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, + <a href="#Page_299">299</a>.<br /> +Louisiana State Seminary, <a href="#Page_003">3</a>.<br /> +Louisiana State University, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> +Louisville and Nashville Railroad, <a href="#Page_007">7</a>.<br /> +Loyal League, <i>see</i> <a href="#indexUnionLeague">Union League</a>.<br /> +Lynch, negro officeholder, <a href="#footer_10-4">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>M.</h3> +<p> +McCardle, <i>ex parte</i>, + <a href="#Page_159">159</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>.<br /> +McCulloch, Hugh, Secretary of Treasury, + and seizure of cotton +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> + in South, <a href="#Page_009">9</a>-<a href="#Page_010">10</a>; + and Johnson, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br /> +McDowell, General Irvin, commands military district, + <a href="#footer_06-1">141 (note)</a>.<br /> +McPherson, Edward, clerk of the House, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.<br /> +Marvin, William, Governor of Florida, + on status of negroes, <a href="#Page_091">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_092">92</a>, <a href="#Page_093">93</a>.<br /> +Maryland, disfranchisement in, + <a href="#Page_025">25</a>-<a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + state emancipation in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Meade, General G. G., + commands military district, + <a href="#footer_06-1">140-141 (note)</a>.<br /> +Memminger, C. G., Governor of South Carolina, + on status of freedmen, + <a href="#Page_090">90</a>-<a href="#Page_091">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_092">92</a>-<a href="#Page_093">93</a>.<br /> +Memphis (Tenn.), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>; + race riots in, <a href="#Page_083">83</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>; + convention of Confederate soldiers and sailors at, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + surrenders charter, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +Men of Justice, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Methodist Church, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#Page_199">199</a>-<a href="#Page_201">201</a>, + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, + <a href="#Page_203">203</a>-<a href="#Page_204">204</a>, + <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +Metropolitan Guard, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.<br /> +Michigan rejects negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Milligan, <i>ex parte</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br /> +Minnesota rejects negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Mississippi, poverty in, <a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + rejects Thirteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_079">79</a>; + negro legislation in, <a href="#Page_094">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_095">95</a>-<a href="#Page_096">96</a>; + treatment of negroes by army in, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + courts, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>; + military government, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, + <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + constitution, + <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-<a href="#Page_154">154</a>, + <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; + suit against President, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>; + reconstruction fails in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, + <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>; + conservatives, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>; + negroes in legislature, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>; + taxes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>; + negro militia, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>; + and enforcement acts, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + permits mixed marriages, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + unrepresented in Congress, <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>; + Grant and interference in, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>; + elections (1875), <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br /> +Mississippi River, negro colonies along, <a href="#Page_037">37</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexMissShotGunPlan" id="indexMissShotGunPlan"></a> +Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +Mississippi, University of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +Missouri, and Confederates, <a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + state emancipation in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + rejects negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Mobile (Ala.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>; + surrenders charter, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.<br /> +Montgomery (Ala.), + separate organization of Baptist Church in, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>; + negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>; + Ku Klux proclamation, + <a href="#Page_257">257</a>-<a href="#Page_258">258</a>.<br /> +Montgomery Conference on Race Problems (1900), + <i>Proceedings</i> quoted, + <a href="#Page_214">214</a>-<a href="#Page_215">215</a>.<br /> +Moore, Governor, and negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Morgan, E. D., Senator, and Freedmen's Bureau Act, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +Morton, O. P., of Indiana, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + on negro suffrage, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a>-<a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +Moses, F. J., Jr., Governor of South Carolina, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> +Moses, Judge, in South Carolina, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>N.</h3> +<p> +Nash, negro officeholder, <a href="#footer_10-4">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +<i>Nation</i>, New York, <a href="#footer_08-2">180 (note)</a>; + editorial on post-war church situation quoted, + <a href="#footer_09-1">201 (note)</a>; + on corruption of government, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.<br /> +National Teachers Association meeting (1865), <a href="#Page_208">208</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexNationalUnionParty" id="indexNationalUnionParty"></a> +National Union party, Republican party becomes, <a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + Whigs and Douglas Democrats join, + <a href="#Page_070">70</a>-<a href="#Page_071">71</a>; + convention at Philadelphia, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + nominates Grant, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.<br /> +Negro Affairs, Department of, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> +<a name="indexNegroes" id="indexNegroes"></a> +Negroes, as soldiers in South, + <a href="#Page_021">21</a>-<a href="#Page_022">22</a>; + problems of reconstruction, <a href="#Page_034">34</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + health conditions among, + <a href="#Page_041">41</a>-<a href="#Page_042">42</a>; + morals and manners, + <a href="#Page_042">42</a>-<a href="#Page_043">43</a>; + poverty, + <a href="#Page_044">44</a>-<a href="#Page_045">45</a>; + education, + <a href="#Page_044">44</a>-<a href="#Page_045">45</a>, + <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, + <a href="#Page_211">211</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a>; + relations with whites, + <a href="#Page_047">47</a>-<a href="#Page_048">48</a>, + <a href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_278">278</a>; + lawlessness, <a href="#Page_048">48</a>-<a href="#Page_049">49</a>; + suffrage, + <a href="#Page_049">49</a>-<a href="#Page_052">52</a>, + <a href="#Page_058">58</a>, + <a href="#Page_066">66</a>-<a href="#Page_067">67</a>, + <a href="#Page_078">78</a>, <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, + <a href="#Page_085">85</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, + <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, + <a href="#Page_284">284</a>-<a href="#Page_285">285</a>, + <a href="#Page_300">300</a>-<a href="#Page_301">301</a>, + <a href="#Page_304">304</a>; + Lincoln urges deportation of freedmen, <a href="#Page_066">66</a>; + legislation concerning, + <a href="#Page_077">77</a>-<a href="#Page_078">78</a>, + <a href="#Page_089">89</a>-<a href="#Page_090">90</a>, + <a href="#Page_093">93</a>-<a href="#Page_098">98</a>, + <a href="#Page_115">115</a>-<a href="#Page_116">116</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>; + status at close of war, <a href="#Page_089">89</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + Freedmen's Bureau supervises, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>; + Union League and, <a href="#Page_181">181</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + religion, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>-<a href="#Page_206">206</a>; + rule in South, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + in Congress, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>; + and state offices, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>; + and Ku Klux, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>; + anti-negro movements, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>; + labor, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>; + "privileges," <a href="#Page_269">269</a>; + advantages, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>-<a href="#Page_271">271</a>; + as farmers, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-<a href="#Page_274">274</a>; + change in condition during reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_274">274</a>-<a href="#Page_275">275</a>; + mixed marriages, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br /> +Nelson, counsel at impeachment, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +New England, and negro suffrage, + <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>; + Freedmen's Aid Society, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br /> +New Orleans, negro soldiers in, + <a href="#Page_021">21</a>-<a href="#Page_022">22</a>; + riots in, <a href="#Page_083">83</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, + <a href="#footer_10-4">237 (note)</a>; + Northern teachers in, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>; + public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + Federal officials at, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +New York, charity for relief of South, <a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +New York City, Union League organized, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>; + headquarters for Union League, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>; + corruption in, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +Nordhoff, Charles, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>; + <i>The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1875</i>, + cited, <a href="#footer_10-2">232 (note)</a>.<br /> +Norfolk, "contraband" camp, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>.<br /> +North, free negroes of, <a href="#Page_035">35</a>-<a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + planters from, <a href="#Page_049">49</a>; + capital and labor from, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>; + change in attitude toward South, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>; + politics, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>.<br /> +North Carolina, negro colonies in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + Johnson proclaims restoration of, <a href="#Page_075">75</a>; + committee on laws for freedmen, <a href="#Page_091">91</a>, + <a href="#Page_092">92</a>; + courts, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>; + Union League, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, + <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>; + carpetbag rule, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; + public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + negro militia, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>; + Democratic in 1870, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>; + and enforcement acts, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + conservatives gain control of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<br /> +North Carolina, University of, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>O.</h3> +<p> +<a name="indexOccupation" id="indexOccupation"></a> +Occupation, Army of, <a href="#Page_018">18</a>-<a href="#Page_022">22</a>, + <a href="#Page_081">81</a>; + <i>see</i> also <a href="#indexArmy">Army</a>.<br /> +Ohio rejects negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, + <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +Ord, General E. O. C., + commands military division, <a href="#footer_06-1">140 (note)</a>.<br /> +Oregon, election of 1876, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +Orr, J. L., and negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Orth, S. P., <i>The Boss and the Machine</i>, cited, + <a href="#footer_13-1">282 (note)</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>P.</h3> +<p> +Pale Faces, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +Patton, R. M., Governor of Alabama, + <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_051">51</a>, + <a href="#Page_078">78</a>; + and contract labor, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>; + and negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +Peabody Board, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>-<a href="#Page_218">218</a>.<br /> +"Peace Societies," <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, + <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Perry, B. F., Governor of South Carolina, + and negro suffrage, + <a href="#Page_078">78</a>-<a href="#Page_079">79</a>.<br /> +Pettus, General, quoted, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br /> +Phelps, J. S., military governor of Arkansas, + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>.<br /> +Philadelphia, convention of National Union party at, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a>; + Union League organized (1863), <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span> +Phillips, Wendell, Johnson and, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br /> +Pike, J. S., <a href="#Page_291">291</a>; + account of conditions in South Carolina, + <a href="#Page_016">16</a>-<a href="#Page_017">17</a>; + <i>The Prostrate State</i>, quoted, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a>-<a href="#Page_230">230</a>.<br /> +Pinchback, P. B. S., negro officeholder, + <a href="#footer_10-4">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +Pittsburgh, soldiers' and sailors' convention at, + <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.<br /> +Politics, theoretical basis of, + <a href="#Page_054">54</a>-<a href="#Page_055">55</a>; + <i>see also</i> names of parties.<br /> +Pope, General John, commands military district, + <a href="#footer_06-1">140-141 (note)</a>.<br /> +Poverty, of South after Civil War, + <a href="#Page_013">13</a>-<a href="#Page_014">14</a>; + among negroes, <a href="#Page_044">44</a>.<br /> +Presbyterian Church, + <a href="#Page_198">198</a>-<a href="#Page_199">199</a>, + <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.<br /> +<i>Prescript</i>, constitution of Ku Klux Klan, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, + <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.<br /> +Professions in South after Civil War, <a href="#Page_016">16</a>.<br /> +Propaganda, + campaign of misrepresentation against South, + <a href="#Page_082">82</a>-<a href="#Page_083">83</a>; + by Union League, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a>; + <i>see also</i> Publicity.<br /> +<a name="indexPublicity" id="indexPublicity"></a> +Publicity, newspaper correspondents in South, + <a href="#Page_027">27</a>-<a href="#Page_029">29</a>.<br /> +Pulaski (Tenn.), Ku Klux Klan originates at, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>; + Ku Klux incident, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>Q.</h3> +<p> +Quakers, opinion as to secession, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>R.</h3> +<p> +Radicalism, <a href="#Page_118">118</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + decline of, + <a href="#Page_289">289</a>-<a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +Railroads, post-war condition in South, + <a href="#Page_006">6</a>-<a href="#Page_007">7</a>; + dishonest speculation, + <a href="#Page_234">234</a>-<a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> +Rainey, negro officeholder, <a href="#footer_10-5">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +Randolph, Ryland, + editor of <i>Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor</i>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, + <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_244">244</a>.<br /> +Raymond, administration Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexReconstruction" id="indexReconstruction"></a> +Reconstruction, problems in South, <a href="#Page_001">1</a> <i>et seq</i>., + <a href="#Page_086">86</a>; + negro as central figure, <a href="#Page_034">34</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + executive plans for, <a href="#Page_054">54</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + Crittenden-Johnson resolutions, <a href="#Page_055">55</a>; + Democratic party on, <a href="#Page_069">69</a>; + Joint Committee on, <a href="#Page_082">82</a>, + <a href="#Page_084">84</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_126">126</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>-<a href="#Page_130">130</a>, + <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>, + <a href="#footer_10-1">266 (note)</a>; + congressional policy of, + <a href="#Page_134">134</a>-<a href="#Page_139">139</a>; + political issue, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, + <a href="#Page_294">294</a>-<a href="#Page_295">295</a>; + results of radical policy, + <a href="#Page_302">302</a>-<a href="#Page_304">304</a>; + bibliography, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>-<a href="#Page_307">307</a>.<br /> +Red String Band, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Reed, Governor of Florida, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>.<br /> +Refugees, <a href="#Page_014">14</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.<br /> +Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, Bureau of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexFreedmensBureau">Freedmen's + Bureau</a>.<br /> +Reid, Whitelaw, + relates incident of Confederate uniforms, + <a href="#Page_020">20</a>-<a href="#Page_021">21</a>; + as newspaper correspondent, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + interview with Hampton, + <a href="#Page_051">51</a>-<a href="#Page_052">52</a>.<br /> +Relief agencies, after Civil War, + <a href="#Page_014">14</a>-<a href="#Page_015">15</a>; + Freedmen's Bureau, <a href="#Page_015">15</a>, + <a href="#Page_107">107</a>-<a href="#Page_109">109</a>; + Government, <a href="#Page_015">15</a>.<br /> +Religion, separation of Northern and Southern churches, + <a href="#Page_023">23</a>; + among negroes, <a href="#Page_043">43</a>-<a href="#Page_044">44</a>; + in South, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a>; + military censorship in church matters, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>; + <i>see also</i> names of denominations.<br /> +Republican party, and reconstruction, <a href="#Page_063">63</a>, + <a href="#Page_295">295</a>; + during Civil War, <a href="#Page_069">69</a>-<a href="#Page_070">70</a>; + secures negro vote, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>; + majority in Congress, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>; + in South, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>-<a href="#Page_149">149</a>, + <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>; + platform (1868), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>; + and the North, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>; + negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>-<a href="#Page_285">285</a>; + loses control in House, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>; + Liberal Republican movement, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>; + issues (1876), <a href="#Page_295">295</a>-<a href="#Page_296">296</a>; + and Electoral Commission, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>; + decline of strength, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +Revels, negro officeholder, <a href="#footer_10-4">242 (note)</a>.<br /> +Rhodes, J. F., + on congressional policy of reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span> +Richmond (Va.), post-war condition, <a href="#Page_005">5</a>; + Halleck's order in regard to marriage, <a href="#Page_020">20</a>; + incident of Lee and a negro in church, + <a href="#Page_043">43</a>-<a href="#Page_044">44</a>; + Lincoln and Confederate Government in, <a href="#Page_067">67</a>.<br /> +Rifle Clubs of South Carolina, + <a href="#Page_245">245</a>-<a href="#Page_246">246</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +Roads in Tennessee after Civil War, <a href="#Page_004">4</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>S.</h3> +<p> +Saffold, M. J., on negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_050">50</a>.<br /> +"Salary Grab," <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +Santo Domingo, Grant seeks annexation of, + <a href="#Page_283">283</a>-<a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +Savannah (Ga.), incident relating to Confederate uniforms, + <a href="#Page_020">20</a>-<a href="#Page_021">21</a>.<br /> +Scalawags, in constitutional conventions, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>; + desert radicals, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>; + disabilities removed, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + and the churches, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>; + use of term, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>.<br /> +Schofield, General J. M., <a href="#Page_106">106</a>; + commands military district, <a href="#footer_06-1">140 (note)</a>; + Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> +Schuckers, J. W., quoted, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Schurz, Carl, on army of occupation, <a href="#Page_019">19</a>; + report on conditions in South, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_029">29</a>, <a href="#Page_030">30</a>; + on negro labor, <a href="#Page_045">45</a>-<a href="#Page_046">46</a>.<br /> +Scott, R. K., Governor of South Carolina, + <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.<br /> +Sea Islands, negroes sent to, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> +Seward, W. H., and Jackson, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + expansionist, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +Seymour, Horatio, of New York, + <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.<br /> +Sharkey, W. L., Governor of Mississippi, <a href="#Page_078">78</a>.<br /> +Shepherd, A. R., <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +Shepley, General G. F., + military governor of Louisiana, <a href="#Page_065">65</a>.<br /> +Sheridan, General P. H., + commands military district, <a href="#footer_06-1">140-141 (note)</a>; + Johnson removes, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + "banditti" report, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +Sherman, General W. T., + <a href="#Page_028">28</a>, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + Sea Island order, + <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.<br /> +Shot Gun Plan, + see <a href="#indexMissShotGunPlan">Mississippi Shot Gun Plan.</a><br /> +Sickles, General D. E., + commands military district, <a href="#footer_06-1">140-141 (note)</a>; + removed by Johnson, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.<br /> +Slavery, Abolition of, + Lincoln and, <a href="#Page_058">58</a>, <a href="#Page_066">66</a>; + Johnson and, <a href="#Page_058">58</a>, <a href="#Page_076">76</a>; + Sumner and, <a href="#Page_059">59</a>; + <i>see also</i> + <a href="#indexEmancipationProc">Emancipation Proclamation.</a><br /> +Smith, Gerrit, view of reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_060">60</a>-<a href="#Page_061">61</a>.<br /> +Smith, W. H., Governor of Alabama, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>; + quoted, <a href="#Page_024">24</a>.<br /> +Somers, Robert, + English writer on the South, <a href="#Page_004">4</a>, + <a href="#Page_028">28</a>-<a href="#Page_029">29</a>, + <a href="#Page_041">41</a>-<a href="#Page_042">42</a>, + <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.<br /> +Sons of '76, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexSouth" id="indexSouth"></a> +South, post-war condition, <a href="#Page_002">2</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + exploitation by Northerners, + <a href="#Page_026">26</a>-<a href="#Page_027">27</a>; + relation between races, + <a href="#Page_047">47</a>-<a href="#Page_048">48</a>; + Presidents' work of reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_054">54</a> <i>et seq</i>.; + <i>see also</i> <a href="#indexReconstruction">Reconstruction</a>; + conference of governors of, <a href="#Page_085">85</a>; + military rule in, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + churches, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_208">208</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_220">220</a>; + carpetbag and negro rule, <a href="#Page_221">221</a> <i>et seq.</i>; + social conditions, <a href="#Page_265">265</a> <i>et seq</i>.<br /> +South Carolina, + Pike's account of post-war condition, + <a href="#Page_016">16</a>-<a href="#Page_017">17</a>; + negroes on Sea Islands of, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + negro legislation, <a href="#Page_094">94</a>, + <a href="#Page_095">95</a>, <a href="#Page_096">96</a>, + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, + <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + race lines abolished, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>; + schools, + <a href="#Page_215">215</a>-<a href="#Page_216">216</a>, + <a href="#Page_217">217</a>; + carpetbag rule, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>; + conservatives, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>; + judiciary, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>; + negroes in legislature of, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, + <a href="#Page_227">227</a>; + taxes, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>; + public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + corruption, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>; + negro militia, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>; + elections, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, + <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>; + put under martial law, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + labor, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>; + Irish in, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>; + and radicalism, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span> + +South Carolina, University of, + <a href="#Page_216">216</a>-<a href="#Page_217">217</a>.<br /> +Southwest, Southern whites open lands in, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>.<br /> +Spain, relations with United States, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +Speed, James, resigns from Cabinet, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +Spencer, General, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +Stanbery, Henry, Attorney-General, + opinion on reconstruction laws, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>; + counsel at impeachment, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.<br /> +Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_067">67</a>; + draws up army act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>; + radical, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>; + Johnson and, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>-<a href="#Page_163">163</a>; + suit brought against, by Georgia, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.<br /> +Star Routes, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +<i>Star Spangled Banner, The</i>, + sung at Union League initiation, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.<br /> +Stearns, M. L., Governor of Florida, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.<br /> +Steedman, General J. B., + <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +Stephens, A. H., witness before Joint Committee, + <a href="#Page_125">125</a>-<a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br /> +Stephenson, N. W., + <i>The Day of the Confederacy</i>, cited, + <a href="#footer_06-2">149 (note)</a>; + <i>Abraham Lincoln and the Union</i>, cited, + <a href="#footer_08-1">176 (note)</a>.<br /> +Stevens, Thaddeus, + reconstruction policy, + <a href="#Page_059">59</a>-<a href="#Page_060">60</a>, + <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>-<a href="#Page_123">123</a>; + and Johnson, <a href="#Page_071">71</a>, + <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, + <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, + <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>; + radical leader, + <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, + <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + on Military Reconstruction Bill, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, + <a href="#Page_138">138</a>-<a href="#Page_139">139</a>; + and Alabama, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br /> +Stockton, Senator from New Jersey, unseated, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.<br /> +Stoneman, General George, + commands military district, <a href="#footer_06-1">140 (note)</a>.<br /> +Suffrage, Negro, see <a href="#indexNegroes">Negroes</a>.<br /> +Sumner, Charles, + reconstruction policy, + <a href="#Page_058">58</a>-<a href="#Page_059">59</a>, + <a href="#Page_060">60</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>; + radical leader, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, + <a href="#Page_123">123</a>-<a href="#Page_124">124</a>, + <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, + <a href="#Page_173">173</a>; + Johnson and, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + and equal rights, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>-<a href="#Page_277">277</a>; + and expansion, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +Supreme Court, Congress and, + <a href="#Page_158">158</a>-<a href="#Page_160">160</a>; + and Civil Rights Act, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>; + and Enforcement Laws, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.<br /> +Swayne, General Wager, + head of Freedmen's Bureau in Alabama, + <a href="#Page_097">97</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>; + on contract labor, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>; + and courts, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>; + and Union League, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, + <a href="#Page_192">192</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a>; + on negro education, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.<br /> +"Swinging Around the Circle," + Johnson's tour of the West, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>T.</h3> +<p> +Tarbell, General John, + before Joint Committee on Reconstruction, <a href="#Page_030">30</a>.<br /> +Taxation, see <a href="#indexFinance">Finance</a>.<br /> +Taylor, Bayard, Lanier writes to, + <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-<a href="#Page_280">280</a>.<br /> +Taylor, General Richard, <a href="#Page_083">83</a>.<br /> +Tennessee, recognizes "Union" government, <a href="#Page_018">18</a>; + imposes fines for wearing Confederate uniform, <a href="#Page_020">20</a>; + Confederates in, <a href="#Page_025">25</a>-<a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + State emancipation in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + attitude toward negroes in, <a href="#Page_048">48</a>; + Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1862), + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>; + Johnson recognizes government of, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + reconstruction in, <a href="#Page_085">85</a>; + negro labor, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + readmitted to Congress, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, + <a href="#Page_133">133</a>; + and Fourteenth Amendment, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>; + negro voters, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + and enforcement acts, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>; + omitted from investigation, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + conservatives gain control of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<br /> +Tennessee Valley after Civil War, <a href="#Page_004">4</a>.<br /> +Tenure of office act, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +Texas, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + delay in electing officials, <a href="#Page_079">79</a>; + military government in, + <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + constitution, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>; + reconstruction fails in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + radicals in, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span> + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + Confederates go to, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>; + unrepresented in Congress, <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>; + elections (1874), <a href="#Page_293">293</a>.<br /> +Thach, president of Alabama Agricultural College, + <a href="#Page_271">271</a>-<a href="#Page_272">272</a>.<br /> +Thomas, General G. H., on sentiment of Tennessee, + <a href="#Page_024">24</a>-<a href="#Page_025">25</a>.<br /> +Thomas, Lorenzo, as acting Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.<br /> +Thompson, Holland, + <i>The New South</i>, cited, + <a href="#footer_09-4">218 (note)</a>, + <a href="#footer_13-4">294 (note)</a>, + <a href="#footer_13-5">303 (note)</a>.<br /> +Tichenor, Rev. I. T., + <a href="#Page_202">202</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a>.<br /> +Tilden, S. J., candidate for presidency, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, + <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>.<br /> +Tillson, General, quoted, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.<br /> +Tourgée, A. W., chief of Union League in North Carolina, + <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +Trade restrictions in South, + <a href="#Page_007">7</a>-<a href="#Page_012">12</a>.<br /> +Treasury Department, + frauds in selling confiscable property in South, + <a href="#Page_008">8</a>-<a href="#Page_012">12</a>; + supervise negro colonies, <a href="#Page_037">37</a>; + employer of negro labor, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br /> +<i>Tribune</i>, Chicago, Sidney Andrews correspondent for, + <a href="#Page_028">28</a>.<br /> +<i>Tribune</i>, New York, Horace Greeley as editor of, + <a href="#Page_288">288</a>.<br /> +Trowbridge, J. T., on frauds in South, + <a href="#Page_011">11</a>-<a href="#Page_012">12</a>; + on sentiment of East Tennessee toward rebels, <a href="#Page_025">25</a>; + correspondent in South, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>; + on relation of races, <a href="#Page_048">48</a>.<br /> +Truman, B. C., on society in South, <a href="#Page_027">27</a>; + report on conditions in South, <a href="#Page_028">28</a>, + <a href="#Page_029">29</a>-<a href="#Page_030">30</a>; + on negro labor, <a href="#Page_046">46</a>; + on relation of races, <a href="#Page_048">48</a>.<br /> +Trumbull, Lyman, moderate Republican, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>; + candidate for presidential nomination, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.<br /> +<i>Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor</i> suppressed, + <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.<br /> +Tuscumbia (Ala.), Female Academy burned in, + <a href="#Page_185">185</a>-<a href="#Page_186">186</a>.<br /> +Tweed, W. M., <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>U.</h3> +<p> +Uniforms, wearing of Confederate, forbidden, <a href="#Page_020">20</a>.<br /> +<a name="indexUnionLeague" id="indexUnionLeague"></a> +Union League of America, <a href="#Page_174">174</a> <i>et seq</i>., + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>; + Freedmen's Bureau and, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>; + negroes in, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>; + and radicals, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>; + and Ku Klux Klan, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, + <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.<br /> +Union party, <i>see</i> <a href="#indexNationalUnionParty">National + Union party</a>.<br /> +"United Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen," + <a href="#Page_275">275</a>.<br /> +United States Sanitary Commission, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>V.</h3> +<p> +Vicksburg (Miss.), public debt, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>; + race conflicts, <a href="#footer_10-4">237 (note)</a>; + government overturned, + <a href="#Page_240">240</a>-<a href="#Page_241">241</a>.<br /> +Virginia, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, + <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>; + recognizes "Union" State government, <a href="#Page_018">18</a>; + army in, <a href="#Page_064">64</a>; + Lincoln's reconstruction plan adopted (1863), + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>; + Lincoln and, <a href="#Page_067">67</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>; + Johnson recognizes government of, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>; + escaped slaves declared contraband, <a href="#Page_099">99</a>; + military government in, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, + <a href="#Page_144">144</a>; + constitution, + <a href="#Page_154">154</a>-<a href="#Page_155">155</a>, + <a href="#Page_171">171</a>; + reconstruction fails in, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>; + schools, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>; + carpetbag rule, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>; + scalawags in, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>; + unrepresented in Congress, <a href="#footer_13-3">289 (note)</a>; + conservatives gain control of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>.<br /> +Virginia Military Institute, <a href="#Page_003">3</a>.<br /> +<i>Virginius</i> dispute, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +<h3>W.</h3> +<p> +Wade, B. F., of Ohio, <a href="#Page_067">67</a>, + <a href="#Page_129">129</a>; + and Johnson, <a href="#Page_073">73</a>; + radical leader, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>; + and the presidency, + <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.<br /> +Wade-Davis Bill, <a href="#Page_056">56</a>, + <a href="#Page_065">65</a>-<a href="#Page_066">66</a>, + <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.<br /> +Wages, Freedmen's Bureau fixes, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br /> +War Department, takes over railways, + <a href="#Page_006">6</a>-<a href="#Page_007">7</a>; + Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, + <a href="#Page_102">102</a>; + <i>see also</i> + <a href="#indexFreedmensBureau">Freedmen's Bureau</a>.<br /> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> + +Warmoth, H. C., Governor of Louisiana, + <a href="#Page_224">224</a>-<a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +Warner, General, and Union League, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.<br /> +Washington, headquarters of Freedmen's Bureau, + <a href="#Page_105">105</a>; + vote on negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.<br /> +Washington and Lee University, <a href="#Page_017">17</a>.<br /> +Washington College, + later Washington and Lee University, <a href="#Page_017">17</a>.<br /> +Watterson, H. M., <a href="#Page_028">28</a>.<br /> +Wayland, Francis, President of Brown University, + <a href="#Page_208">208</a>-<a href="#Page_209">209</a>.<br /> +Webb, General A. S., commands military district, + <a href="#footer_06-1">140 (note)</a>.<br /> +Weitzel, General Godfrey, Lincoln and, <a href="#Page_067">67</a>.<br /> +Welles, Gideon, and Johnson, <a href="#Page_074">74</a>.<br /> +Wells, Governor of Louisiana, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>.<br /> +West, development of, + <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>.<br /> +West Virginia, Confederates in, + <a href="#Page_025">25</a>-<a href="#Page_026">26</a>; + State emancipation in, <a href="#Page_036">36</a>; + established, <a href="#Page_064">64</a>, <a href="#Page_065">65</a>.<br /> +Whig party, + <a href="#Page_070">70</a>, <a href="#Page_071">71</a>, + <a href="#Page_087">87</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, + <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.<br /> +Whipper, judge in South Carolina, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.<br /> +Whisky Ring, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.<br /> +White Boys, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +White Brotherhood, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.<br /> +White Camelia, see <a href="#indexKnightsWC">Knights of the + White Camelia</a>.<br /> +White League, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +White Line of Mississippi, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +White Man's party of Alabama, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, + <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.<br /> +White River Valley and Texas Railroad obtains grant, + <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.<br /> +White Rose, Order of the, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.<br /> +Wilmer, Bishop R. H., and prayers for Davis, + <a href="#Page_023">23</a>.<br /> +Wilson, Henry, on reconstruction, + <a href="#Page_124">124</a>-<a href="#Page_125">125</a>; + tours the South, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.<br /> +Wisconsin and negro suffrage, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>.<br /> +</p> +<p><br /></p> +</div> + +<p><br /></p> + <div class="chapterhead"> + <br /> + <a name="chroniclesAmerica" id="chroniclesAmerica"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2><a href="#Contents">The Chronicles of America Series</a></h2> + <ol> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3066">The + Red Man's Continent</a><br /> by Ellsworth Huntington</li> + <li>The Spanish Conquerors<br /> by Irving Berdine Richman</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12855">Elizabethan + Sea-Dogs</a><br /> by William Charles Henry Wood</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12523">The + Crusaders of New France</a><br /> by William Bennett Munro</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2898">Pioneers + of the Old South</a><br /> by Mary Johnson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29853">The + Fathers of New England</a><br /> by Charles McLean Andrews</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34977">Dutch + and English on the Hudson</a><br /> by Maud Wilder Goodwin</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3043">The + Quaker Colonies</a><br /> by Sydney George Fisher</li> + <li>Colonial Folkways<br /> by Charles McLean Andrews</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3092">The + Conquest of New France</a><br /> by George McKinnon Wrong</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3093">The + Eve of the Revolution</a><br /> by Carl Lotus Becker</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2704">Washington + and His Comrades in Arms</a><br /> by George McKinnon Wrong</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3032">The + Fathers of the Constitution</a><br /> by Max Farrand</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11702">Washington + and His Colleagues</a><br /> by Henry Jones Ford</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3004">Jefferson + and his Colleagues</a><br /> by Allen Johnson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3291">John + Marshall and the Constitution</a><br /> by Edward Samuel Corwin</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18941">The + Fight for a Free Sea</a><br /> by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3073">Pioneers + of the Old Southwest</a><br /> by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3014">The + Old Northwest</a><br /> by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13009">The + Reign of Andrew Jackson</a><br /> by Frederic Austin Ogg</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3098">The + Paths of Inland Commerce</a><br /> by Archer Butler Hulbert</li> + <li>Adventurers of Oregon<br /> by Constance Lindsay Skinner</li> + <li>The Spanish Borderlands<br /> by Herbert Eugene Bolton</li> + <li>Texas and the Mexican War<br /> by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12764">The + Forty-Niners</a><br /> by Stewart Edward White</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3033">The + Passing of the Frontier</a><br /> by Emerson Hough</li> + <li>The Cotton Kingdom<br /> by William E. Dodd</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3034">The + Anti-Slavery Crusade</a><br /> by Jesse Macy</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2836">Abraham + Lincoln and the Union</a><br /> by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3035">The + Day of the Confederacy</a><br /> by Nathaniel Wright Stephenson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2649">Captains + of the Civil War</a><br /> by William Charles Henry Wood</li> + <li><span class="smcap">The Sequel of Appomattox<br /> + by Walter Lynwood Fleming</span></li> + <li>The American Spirit in Education<br /> by Edwin E. Slosson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3410">The + American Spirit in Literature</a><br /> by Bliss Perry</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14825">Our + Foreigners</a><br /> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3099">The + Old Merchant Marine</a><br /> by Ralph Delahaye Paine</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2900">The + Age of Invention</a><br /> by Holland Thompson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3036">The + Railroad Builders</a><br /> by John Moody</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3037">The + Age of Big Business</a><br /> by Burton Jesse Hendrick</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3038">The + Armies of Labor</a><br /> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li>The Masters of Capital<br /> by John Moody</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13107">The + New South</a><br />by Holland Thompson</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3040">The + Boss and the Machine</a><br /> by Samuel Peter Orth</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3041">The + Cleveland Era</a><br /> by Henry Jones Ford</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2899">The + Agrarian Crusade</a><br /> by Solon Justus Buck</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3157">The + Path of Empire</a><br /> by Carl Russell Fish</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2724">Theodore + Roosevelt and His Times</a><br /> by Harold Howland</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21877">Woodrow + Wilson and the World War</a><br /> by Charles Seymour</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2835">The + Canadian Dominion</a><br /> by Oscar D. Skelton</li> + <li><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3042">The + Hispanic Nations of the New World</a><br /> + by William R. Shepherd</li> + </ol> + <p><br /></p> + + + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> + + <div class="chapterhead"> + <br /> + <a name="transNotes" id="transNotes"></a> + <br /><br /><br /> + <h2><a href="#Contents">Transcriber's Notes</a></h2> + <p><br /></p> + <h3>Introduction</h3> +</div> + +<div id="notes"> +<p> +Welcome to <span class="PG">Project Gutenberg's</span> edition of +<i>Sequel to Appomattox</i> by Walter Fleming in the <i>Chronicles of +America</i> series. The images were courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln +Edition on the internet archive from the University of Michigan. +We also consulted the textbook edition from the Internet Archive +to produce an e-book without images.</p> +<p>The images have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs +and so that they are next to the text that they illustrate. The page +number of the illustration might not match the page number in the List +of Illustrations.</p> + +<p>We have made the following emendations to the text: +</p> + +<p><br /></p> +<h4>Index:</h4> +<p> + On <a href="#Page_313">Page 313</a>, Re-election is transcribed as + reëlection. +</p> + +<p> + On <a href="#Page_321">Page 321</a>, Tourgée is spelled without the + acute accent, but the entry refers to a passage in the text where + the acute accent is used. We put the accent on the entry in the index. +</p> + +</div> + + + +<div class="boilerplate"> +<p class="end"> +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX *** +</p> +<br /> +<p> +***** This file should be named 2897-h.htm or 2897-h.zip ***** +</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:</p> +<p class="file-location">https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/9/2897/</p> +<p> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions +will be renamed. +</p> +<br /> +<p> +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sequel of Appomattox + A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States, Volume 32 In The + Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: Walter Lynwood Fleming + +Editor: Allen Johnson + +Posting Date: January 2, 2009 [EBook #2897] +Release Date: November, 2001 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX *** + + + + +Produced by The James J. Kelly Library Of St. Gregory's +University, and Alev Akman + + + + + + +THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX + +A CHRONICLE OF THE REUNION OF THE STATES + +By Walter Lynwood Fleming + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR + +When the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in +1865, two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the Negro was +to be free, and the Union was to be perpetuated. But, though slavery +and state sovereignty were no longer at issue, there were still many +problems which pressed for solution. The huge task of reconstruction +must be faced. The nature of the situation required that the measures of +reconstruction be first formulated in Washington by the victors and then +worked out in the conquered South. Since the success of these policies +would depend in a large measure upon their acceptability to both +sections of the country, it was expected that the North would be +influenced to some extent by the attitude of the Southern people, which +in turn would be determined largely by local conditions in the South. +The situation in the South at the close of the Civil War is, therefore, +the point at which this narrative of the reconstruction naturally takes +its beginning. + +The surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities, +which were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized +people. Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former +neighbors. They found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized, +and the inhabitants in many places suffering from want. They found the +white people demoralized and sometimes divided among themselves and the +Negroes free, bewildered, and disorderly, for organized government had +lapsed with the surrender of the Confederate armies. + +Beneath a disorganized society lay a devastated land. The destruction of +property affected all classes of the population. The accumulated capital +of the South had disappeared in worthless Confederate stocks, bonds, +and currency. The banks had failed early in the war. Two billion dollars +invested in slaves had been wiped out. Factories, which had been running +before the war or were developed after 1861 in order to supply the +blockaded country, had been destroyed by Federal raiders or seized +and sold or dismantled because they had furnished supplies to the +Confederacy. Mining industries were paralyzed. Public buildings which +had been used for war purposes were destroyed or confiscated for the +uses of the army or for the new freedmen's schools. It was months before +courthouses, state capitols, school and college buildings were again +made available for normal uses. The military school buildings had been +destroyed by the Federal forces. Among the schools which suffered +were the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the +Louisiana State Seminary, and many smaller institutions. Nearly all +these had been used in some way for war purposes and were therefore +subject to destruction or confiscation. + +The farmers and planters found themselves "land poor." The soil +remained, but there was a prevalent lack of labor, of agricultural +equipment, of farm stock, of seeds, and of money with which to make good +the deficiency. As a result, a man with hundreds of acres might be as +poor as a Negro refugee. The desolation is thus described by a Virginia +farmer: + +"From Harper's Ferry to New Market, which is about eighty miles... the +country was almost a desert.... We had no cattle, hogs, sheep, or horse +or anything else. The fences were all gone. Some of the orchards were +very much injured, but the fruit trees had not been destroyed. The barns +were all burned; chimneys standing without houses, and houses standing +without roof, or door, or window." + +Much land was thrown on the market at low prices--three to five dollars +an acre for land worth fifty dollars. The poorer lands could not be sold +at all, and thousands of farms were deserted by their owners. Everywhere +recovery from this agricultural depression was slow. Five years after +the war Robert Somers, an English traveler, said of the Tennessee +Valley: + +"It consists for the most part of plantations in a state of semi-ruin +and plantations of which the ruin is for the present total and +complete.... The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in +burnt-up gin-houses, ruined bridges, mills, and factories... and in +large tracts of once cultivated land stripped of every vestige of +fencing. The roads, long neglected, are in disorder, and having in many +places become impassable, new tracks have been made through the woods +and fields without much respect to boundaries." + +Similar conditions existed wherever the armies had passed, and not +in the country districts alone. Many of the cities, such as Richmond, +Charleston, Columbia, Jackson, Atlanta, and Mobile had suffered from +fire or bombardment. + +There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, +and Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of +Southern merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again. +Long before 1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through +the blockade. That there was a great need of supplies from the outside +world is shown by the following statement of General Boynton: + +"Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in +the cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced +for four years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the +pitchers have tin handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and +in very few families is there enough to set a table.... A set of forks +with whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all +stopped.... Hairbrushes and toothbrushes have all worn out; combs are +broken.... Pins, needles, and thread, and a thousand such articles, +which seem indispensable to housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in +weaving on the looms, corncobs have been substituted for spindles. +Few have pocketknives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an +article of sale in the South is wanting now. At the tables of those +who were once esteemed luxurious providers you will find neither tea, +coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some cases, have +been replaced by a cup of grease in which a piece of cloth is plunged +for a wick." + +This poverty was prolonged and rendered more acute by the lack of +transportation. Horses, mules, wagons, and carriages were scarce, the +country roads were nearly impassable, and bridges were in bad repair or +had been burned or washed away. Steamboats had almost disappeared from +the rivers. Those which had escaped capture as blockade runners had been +subsequently destroyed or were worn out.. Postal facilities, which had +been poor enough during the last year of the Confederacy, were entirely +lacking for several months after the surrender. + +The railways were in a state of physical dilapidation little removed +from destruction, save for those that had been captured and kept in +partial repair by the Federal troops. The rolling stock had been lost +by capture, by destruction to prevent capture, in wrecks, which were +frequent, or had been worn out. The railroad companies possessed large +sums in Confederate currency and in securities which were now valueless. +About two-thirds of all the lines were hopelessly bankrupt. Fortunately, +the United States War Department took over the control of the railway +lines and in some cases effected a temporary reorganization which could +not have been accomplished by the bankrupt companies. During the summer +and fall of 1865, "loyal" boards of directors were appointed for most +of the railroads, and the army withdrew its control. But repairs +and reconstruction were accomplished with difficulty because of the +demoralization of labor and the lack of funds or credit. Freight was +scarce and, had it not been for government shipments, some of the +railroads would have been abandoned. Not many people were able to +travel. It is recorded that on one trip from Montgomery to Mobile +and return, a distance of 360 miles, the railroad which is now the +Louisville and Nashville collected only thirteen dollars in fares. + +Had there been unrestricted commercial freedom in the South in 1865-66, +the distress of the people would have been somewhat lessened, for here +and there were to be found public and private stores of cotton, tobacco, +rice, and other farm products, all of which were bringing high prices +in the market. But for several months the operation of wartime laws +and regulations hindered the distribution of even these scanty stores. +Property upon which the Confederate Government had a claim was, of +course, subject to Confiscation, and private property offered for sale, +even that of Unionists, was subject to a 25 percent tax on sales, a +shipping tax, and a revenue tax. The revenue tax on cotton, ranging from +two to three cents a pound during the three years after the war, brought +in over $68,000,000. This tax, with other Federal revenues, yielded much +more than the entire expenses of reconstruction from 1865 to 1868 and +of all relief measures for the South, both public and private. After +May 1865, the 25 percent tax was imposed only upon the produce of slave +labor. None of the war taxes, except that on cotton, was levied upon the +crops of 1866, but while these taxes lasted, they seriously impeded the +resumption of trade. + +Even these restrictions, however, might have been borne if only they +had been honestly applied. Unfortunately, some of the most spectacular +frauds ever perpetrated were carried through in connection with the +attempt of the United States Treasury Department to collect and sell the +confiscable property in the South. The property to be sold consisted +of what had been captured and seized by the army and the navy, of +"abandoned" property, as such was called whose owner was absent in +the Confederate service, and of property subject to seizure under the +confiscation acts of Congress. No captures were made after the general +surrender, and no further seizures of "abandoned" property were made +after Johnson's amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865. This left only the +"confiscable" property to be collected and sold. + +For collection purposes the states of the South were divided into +districts, each under the supervision of an agent of the Treasury +Department, who received a commission of about 25 percent. Cotton, +regarded as the root of the slavery evil, was singled out as the +principal object of confiscation. It was known that the Confederate +Government had owned in 1865 about 150,000 bales, but the records were +defective and much of it, with no clear indication of ownership, still +remained with the producers. Secretary Chase, foreseeing the difficulty +of effecting a just settlement, counseled against seizure, but his +judgment was overruled. Secretary McCulloch said of his agents: "I am +sure I sent some honest cotton agents South; but it sometimes seems +doubtful whether any of them remained honest very long." Some of +the natives, even, became cotton thieves. In a report made in 1866, +McCulloch describes their methods: "Contractors, anxious for gain, +were sometimes guilty of bad faith and peculation, and frequently took +possession of cotton and delivered it under contracts as captured or +abandoned, when in fact it was not such, and they had no right to touch +it.... Residents and others in the districts where these peculations +were going on took advantage of the unsettled condition of the country, +and representing themselves as agents of this department, went +about robbing under such pretended authority, and thus added to the +difficulties of the situation by causing unjust opprobrium and suspicion +to rest upon officers engaged in the faithful discharge of their duties. +Agents,... frequently received or collected property, and sent it +forward which the law did not authorize them to take.... Lawless men, +singly and in organized bands, engaged in general plunder; every species +of intrigue and peculation and theft were resorted to." + +These agents turned over to the United States about $34,000,000. About +40,000 claimants were subsequently indemnified on the ground that the +property taken from them did not belong to the Confederate Government, +but many thousands of other claimants have been unable to prove that +their property was seized by government agents and hence have received +nothing. It is probable that the actual Confederate property was nearly +all stolen by the agents. One agent in Alabama sold an appointment as +assistant for $25,000, and a few months later both the assistant and the +agent were tried by a military court for stealing and were fined $90,000 +and $250,000 respectively in addition to being imprisoned. + +Other property, including horses, mules, wagons, tobacco, rice, and +sugar which the natives claimed as their own, was seized. In some places +the agents even collected delinquent Confederate taxes. Much of the +confiscable property was not sold but was turned over to the +Freedmen's Bureau* for its support. The total amount seized cannot be +satisfactorily ascertained. The Ku Klux minority report asserted +that 3,000,000 bales of cotton were taken, of which the United States +received only 114,000. It is certain that, owing to the deliberate +destruction of cotton by fire in 1864-65, this estimate was too +high, but all the testimony points to the fact that the frauds were +stupendous. As a result the United States Government did not succeed +in obtaining the Confederate property to which it had a claim, and the +country itself was stripped of necessities to a degree that left it +not only destitute but outraged and embittered. "Such practices," said +Trowbridge, "had a pernicious effect, engendering a contempt for the +Government and a murderous ill will which too commonly vented itself +upon soldiers and Negroes." + + * See pp. 89 et seq. + +The South faced the work of reconstruction not only with a shortage of +material and greatly hampered in the employment even of that but still +more with a shortage of men. The losses among the whites are usually +estimated at about half the military population, but since accurate +records are lacking, the exact numbers cannot be ascertained. The best +of the civil leaders, as well as the prominent military leaders, had so +committed themselves to the support of the Confederacy as to be excluded +from participation in any reconstruction that might be attempted. +The business of reconstruction, therefore, fell of necessity to the +Confederate private soldiers, the lower officers, nonparticipants, and +lukewarm individuals who had not greatly compromised themselves. These +politically and physically uninjured survivors included also all the +"slackers" of the Confederacy. But though there were such physical and +moral losses on the part of those to whom fell the direction of affairs, +there was also a moral strengthening in the sound element of the people +who had been tried by the discipline of war. + +The greatest weakness of both races was their extreme poverty. The crops +of 1865 turned out badly, for most of the soldiers reached home too late +for successful planting, and the Negro labor was not dependable. The +sale of such cotton and farm products as had escaped the treasury agents +was of some help, but curiously enough much of the good money thus +obtained was spent extravagantly by a people used to Confederate rag +money and for four years deprived of the luxuries of life. The poorer +whites who had lost all were close to starvation. In the white counties +which had sent so large a proportion of men to the army, the destitution +was most acute. In many families the breadwinner had been killed in +war. After 1862, relief systems had been organized in nearly all the +Confederate States for the purpose of aiding the poor whites, but these +organizations were disbanded in 1865. A Freedmen's Bureau official +traveling through the desolate back country furnishes a description +which might have applied to two hundred counties, a third of the South: +"It is a common, an every-day sight in Randolph County, that of women +and children, most of whom were formerly in good circumstances, begging +for bread from door to door. Meat of any kind has been a stranger to +many of their mouths for months. The drought cut off what little crops +they hoped to save, and they must have immediate help or perish. By far +the greater suffering exists among the whites. Their scanty supplies +have been exhausted, and now they look to the Government alone for +support. Some are without homes of any description." + +Where the armies had passed, few of the people, white or black, +remained; most of them had been forced as "refugees" within the Union +lines or into the interior of the Confederacy. Now, along with the +disbanded Confederate soldiers, they came straggling back to their +war-swept homes. It was estimated, in December 1865, that in the states +of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, there were five hundred thousand +white people who were without the necessaries of life; numbers died from +lack of food. Within a few months, relief agencies were at work. In +the North, especially in the border states and in New York, charitable +organizations collected and forwarded great quantities of supplies to +the Negroes and to the whites in the hill and mountain counties. The +reorganized state and local governments sent food from the unravaged +portions of the Black Belt to the nearest white counties, and the +army commanders gave some aid. As soon as the Freedmen's Bureau was +organized, it fed to the limit of its supplies the needy whites as well +as the blacks. + +The extent of the relief afforded by the charity of the North and by +the agencies of the United States Government is not now generally +remembered, probably on account of the later objectionable activities +of the Freedmen's Bureau, but it was at the time properly appreciated. +A Southern journalist, writing of what he saw in Georgia, remarked that +"it must be a matter of gratitude as well as surprise for our people to +see a Government which was lately fighting us with fire and sword and +shell, now generously feeding our poor and distressed. In the immense +crowds which throng the distributing house, I notice the mothers and +fathers, widows and orphans of our soldiers. ... Again, the Confederate +soldier, with one leg or one arm, the crippled, maimed, and broken, and +the worn and destitute men, who fought bravely their enemies then, their +benefactors now, have their sacks filled and are fed." + +Acute distress continued until 1867; after that year there was no +further danger of starvation. Some of the poor whites, especially in the +remote districts, never again reached a comfortable standard of living; +some were demoralized by too much assistance; others were discouraged +and left the South for the West or the North. But the mass of the people +accepted the discipline of poverty and made the best of their situation. + +The difficulties, however, that beset even the courageous and the +competent were enormous. The general paralysis of industry, the breaking +up of society, and poverty on all sides bore especially hard on those +who had not previously been manual laborers. Physicians could get +practice enough but no fees; lawyers who had supported the Confederacy +found it difficult to get back into the reorganized courts because of +the test oaths and the competition of "loyal" attorneys; and for +the teachers there were few schools. We read of officers high in the +Confederate service selling to Federal soldiers the pies and cakes +cooked by their wives, of others selling fish and oysters which they +themselves had caught, and of men and women hitching themselves to plows +when they had no horse or mule. + +Such incidents must, from their nature, have been infrequent, but they +show to what straits some at least were reduced. Six years after the +war, James S. Pike, then in South Carolina, mentions cases which might +be duplicated in nearly every old Southern community: "In the vicinity," +he says, "lived a gentleman whose income when the war broke out was +rated at $150,000 a year. Not a vestige of his whole vast estate remains +today. Not far distant were the estates of a large proprietor and a +well-known family, rich and distinguished for generations. The slaves +were gone. The family is gone. A single scion of the house remains, and +he peddles tea by the pound and molasses by the quart, on a corner of +the old homestead, to the former slaves of the family and thereby earns +his livelihood." + +General Lee's good example influenced many. Commercial enterprises were +willing to pay for the use of his name and reputation, but he wished +to farm and could get no opportunity. "They are offering my father +everything," his daughter said, "except the only thing he will accept, +a place to earn honest bread while engaged in some useful work." This +remark led to an offer of the presidency of Washington College, now +Washington and Lee University, which he accepted. "I have a self-imposed +task which I must accomplish," he said, "I have led the young men of +the South in battle; I have seen many of them fall under my standard. +I shall devote my life now to training young men to do their duty in +life." + +The condition of honest folk was still further troubled by a general +spirit of lawlessness in many regions. Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, +and Louisiana recognized the "Union" state government, but the coming of +peace brought legal anarchy to the other states of the Confederacy. The +Confederate state and local governments were abolished as the armies of +occupation spread over the South, and for a period of four or six months +there was no government except that exercised by the commanders of the +military garrisons left behind when the armies marched away. Even before +the surrender, the local governments were unable to make their authority +respected, and soon after the war ended, parts of the country became +infested with outlaws, pretend treasury agents, horse thieves, cattle +thieves, and deserters. Away from the military posts only lynch law +could cope with these elements of disorder. + +With the aid of the army in the more settled regions, and by extra-legal +means elsewhere, the outlaws, thieves, cotton burners, and house burners +were brought somewhat under control even before the state governments +were reorganized, though the embers of lawlessness continued to smolder. + +The relations between the Federal soldiers stationed in the principal +towns and the native white population were not, on the whole, so bad as +might have been expected. If the commanding officer were well disposed, +there was little danger of friction, though sometimes his troops got out +of hand. The regulars had a better reputation than the volunteers. +The Confederate soldiers were surfeited with fighting, but the +"stay-at-home" element was often a cause of trouble. The problem +of social relations between the conquerors and the conquered was +troublesome. The men might get along well together, but the women would +have nothing do with the "Yankees," and ill feeling arose because of +their antipathy. Carl Schurz reported that "the soldier of the Union is +looked upon as a stranger, an intruder, as the 'Yankee,' the 'enemy.'... +The existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those +who have served or are serving in the South to require proof." + +In retaliation the soldiers developed ingenious ways of annoying the +whites. Women, forced for any reason to go to headquarters, were made to +take the oath of allegiance or the "ironclad" oath before their requests +were granted; flags were fastened over doors, gates, or sidewalks +in order to irritate the recalcitrant dames and their daughters. +Confederate songs and color combinations were forbidden. In Richmond, +General Halleck ordered that no marriages be performed unless the bride, +the groom, and the officiating clergyman took the oath of allegiance. +He explained this as a measure taken to prevent "the propagation of +legitimate rebels." + +The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but +by May 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms. In Tennessee +the State also imposed fines upon *wear wearers of the uniform. In +the vicinity of military posts, buttons and marks of rank were usually +ordered removed and the gray clothes dyed with some other color. General +Lee, for example, had the buttons on his coat covered with cloth. But +frequently the Federal commander, after issuing the orders, paid no more +attention to the matter and such conflicts as arose on account of the +uniform were usually caused by officious enlisted men and the Negro +troops. Whitelaw Reid relates the following incident: + +"Nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than the +almost painful effort of the rebels, from generals down to privates, +to conduct themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to +bring no severer punishment upon the city than it had already received. +There was a brutal scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with +a pair of tailor's shears, insisted on cutting the buttons from the +uniform of an elegant gray-headed old brigadier, who had just come in +from Johnston's army; but he bore himself modestly and very handsomely +through it. His staff was composed of fine-looking, stalwart fellows, +evidently gentlemen, who appeared intensely mortified at such treatment. +They had no clothes except their rebel uniforms, and had, as yet, had no +time to procure others, but they avoided disturbances and submitted to +what they might, with some propriety, and with the general approval of +our officers, have resented." + +The Negro troops, even at their best, were everywhere considered +offensive by the native whites. General Grant, indeed, urged that only +white troops be used to garrison the interior. But the Negro soldier, +impudent by reason of his new freedom, his new uniform, and his new gun, +was more than Southern temper could tranquilly bear, and race conflicts +were frequent. A New Orleans newspaper thus states the Southern point +of view: "Our citizens who had been accustomed to meet and treat the +Negroes only as respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked +to encounter them... wearing Federal uniforms and bearing bright muskets +and gleaming bayonets.... They are jostled from the sidewalks by dusky +guards, marching four abreast. They were halted, in rude and sullen +tones, by Negro sentinels." + +The task of the Federal forces was not easy. The garrisons were not +large enough nor numerous enough to keep order in the absence of civil +government. The commanders in the South asked in vain for cavalry +to police the rural districts. Much of the disorder, violence, and +incendiarism attributed at the time to lawless soldiers appeared later +to be due to discharged soldiers and others pretending to be soldiers in +order to carry out schemes of robbery. The whites complained vigorously +of the garrisons, and petitions were sent to Washington from mass +meetings and from state legislatures asking for their removal. The +higher commanders, however, bore themselves well, and in a few fortunate +cases Southern whites were on most amicable terms with the garrison +commanders. The correspondence of responsible military officers in the +South shows how earnestly and considerately each, as a rule, tried +to work out his task. The good sense of most of the Federal officers +appeared when, after the murder of Lincoln, even General Grant for +a brief space lost his head and ordered the arrest of paroled +Confederates. + + +The church organizations were as much involved in the war and in the +reconstruction as were secular institutions. Before the war every +religious organization having members North and South, except the +Catholic Church and the Jews, had separated into independent Northern +and Southern bodies. In each section church feeling ran high, and when +the war came, the churches supported the armies. As the Federal armies +occupied Southern territory, the church buildings of each denomination +were turned over to the corresponding Northern body, and Southern +ministers were permitted to remain only upon agreeing to conduct "loyal +services, pray for the President of the United States and for Federal +victories" and to foster "loyal sentiment." The Protestant Episcopal +churches in Alabama were closed from September to December 1865, and +some congregations were dispersed by the soldiers because Bishop Wilmer +had directed his clergy to omit the prayer for President Davis but had +substituted no other. The ministers of non-liturgical churches were not +so easily controlled. A Georgia Methodist preacher directed by a Federal +officer to pray for the President said afterwards: "I prayed for the +President that the Lord would take out of him and his allies the hearts +of beasts and put into them the hearts of men or remove the cusses from +office." Sometimes members of a congregation showed their resentment +at the "loyal" prayers by leaving the church. But in spite of many +irritations, both sides frequently managed to get some amusement out +of the "loyal" services. The church situation was, however, a serious +matter during and after the reconstruction, and some of its later phases +will have to be discussed elsewhere. + +The Unionist, or "Tory," of the lower and eastern South found himself, +in 1865, a man without a country. Few in number in any community, they +found themselves, upon their return from a harsh exile, the victims +of ostracism or open hostility. One of them, William H. Smith, later +Governor of Alabama, testified that the Southern people "manifest the +most perfect contempt for a man who is known to be an unequivocal Union +man; they call him a 'galvanized Yankee' and apply other terms and +epithets to him." General George H. Thomas, speaking of a region more +divided in sentiment than Alabama, remarked that "Middle Tennessee +is disturbed by animosities and hatreds, much more than it is by the +disloyalty of persons towards the Government of the United States. +Those personal animosities would break out and overawe the civil +authorities, but for the presence there of the troops of the United +States.... They are more unfriendly to Union men, natives of the State +of Tennessee, or of the South, who have been in the Union army, than +they are to men of Northern birth." + +In the border states, society was sharply divided, and feeling was +bitter. In eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts +of Arkansas and Missouri, returning Confederates met harsher treatment +than did the Unionists in the lower South. Trowbridge says of east +Tennessee: "Returning rebels were robbed; and if one had stolen unawares +to his home, it was not safe for him to remain there. I saw in Virginia +one of these exiles, who told me how homesickly he pined for the hills +and meadows of east Tennessee, which he thought the most delightful +region in the world. But, there was a rope hanging from a tree for him +there, and he dared not go back. 'The bottom rails are on top,' said +he, 'that is the trouble.' The Union element, and the worst part of the +Union element, was uppermost." Confederates and Confederate sympathizers +in Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, were disfranchised. +In West Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, "war trespass" suits were +brought against returning Confederates for military acts done in +war time. In Missouri and West Virginia, strict test oaths excluded +Confederates from office, from the polls, and from the professions of +teaching, preaching, and law. On the other hand in central and western +Kentucky, the predominant Unionist population, themselves suffering +through the abolition of slavery, and by the objectionable operations +of the Freedmen's Bureau and the unwise military administration, +showed more sympathy for the Confederates, welcomed them home, and soon +relieved them of all restrictions. + +Still another element of discord was added by the Northerners who came +to exploit the South. Many mustered-out soldiers proposed to stay. +Speculators of all kinds followed the withdrawing Confederate lines and +with the conclusion of peace spread through the country, but they +were not cordially received. With the better class, the Southerners, +especially the soldiers, associated freely if seldom intimately. But the +conduct of a few of their number who considered that the war had opened +all doors to them, who very freely expressed their views, gave advice, +condemned old customs, and were generally offensive, did much to bring +all Northerners into disrepute. Tactlessly critical letters published in +Northern papers did not add to their popularity. The few Northern women +felt the ostracism more keenly than did the men. Benjamin C. Truman, an +agent of President Johnson, thus summed up the situation: "There is a +prevalent disposition not to associate too freely with Northern men +or to receive them into the circles of society; but it is far from +unsurmountable. Over Southern society, as over every other, woman reigns +supreme, and they are more embittered against those whom they deem +the authors of all their calamities than are their brothers, sons, +and husbands." But, of the thousands of Northern men who overcame the +reluctance of the Southerners to social intercourse, little was heard. +Many a Southern planter secured a Northern partner or sold him half his +plantation to get money to run the other half. For the irritations of +1865, each party must take its share of responsibility. + +Had the South assisted in a skillful and adequate publicity, much +disastrous misunderstanding might have been avoided. The North knew as +little of the South as the South did of the North, but the North was +eager for news. Able newspaper correspondents like Sidney Andrews of +the Boston Advertiser and the Chicago Tribune, who opposed President +Johnson's policies, Thomas W. Knox of the New York Herald, who had given +General Sherman so much trouble in Tennessee, Whitelaw Reid, who wrote +for several papers and tried cotton planting in Louisiana, and John +T. Trowbridge, New England author and journalist, were dispatched +southwards. Chief of the President's investigators was General Carl +Schurz, German revolutionist, Federal soldier, and soon to be radical +Republican, who held harsh views of the Southern people; and there were +besides Harvey M. Watterson, Kentucky Democrat and Unionist, the +father of "Marse" Henry; Benjamin C. Truman, New England journalist and +soldier, whose long report was perhaps the best of all; Chief Justice +Chase, who was thinking mainly of "How soon can the Negro vote?"; and +General Grant, who made a report so brief that, notwithstanding its +value, it attracted little attention. In addition a constant stream of +information and misinformation was going northward from treasury agents, +officers of the army, the Freedmen's Bureau, teachers, and missionaries. +Among foreigners who described the conquered land were Robert Somers, +Henry Latham, and William Hepworth Dixon. But few in the South realized +the importance of supplying the North with correct information about +actual conditions. The letters and reports, they thought, humiliated +them; inquiry was felt to be prying and gloating. "Correspondents have +added a new pang to surrender," it was said. The South was proud and +refused to be catechized. From the Northern point of view, the South, +a new and strange region with strange customs and principles, was of +course, not to be considered as quite normal and American, but there +was on the part of many correspondents a determined attempt to describe +things as they were. And yet the North persisted in its unsympathetic +queries when it seemed to have a sufficient answer in the reports of +Grant, Schurz, and Truman. + +Grant's opinion was short and direct: "I am satisfied that the mass of +thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in +good faith.... The citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return +to self-government within the Union as soon as possible." Truman came to +the conclusion that "the rank and file of the disbanded Southern army... +are the backbone and sinew of the South.... To the disbanded regiments +of the rebel army, both officers and men, I look with great confidence +as the best and altogether the most hopeful element of the South, the +real basis of reconstruction and the material of worthy citizenship." +General John Tarbell, before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, +testified that "there are, no doubt, disloyal and disorderly persons in +the South, but it is an entire mistake to apply these terms to a whole +people. I would as soon travel alone, unarmed, through the South as +through the North. The South I left is not at all the South I hear and +read about in the North. From the sentiment I hear in the North, I would +scarcely recognize the people I saw, and, except their politics, I liked +so well. I have entire faith that the better classes are friendly to the +Negroes." + +Carl Schurz on the other hand was not so favorably impressed. "The +loyalty of the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people," +he said, "consists in submission to necessity. There is, except in +individual instances, an entire absence of that national spirit which +forms the basis of true loyalty and patriotism." Another government +official in Florida was quite doubtful of the Southern whites. "I would +pin them down at the point of the bayonet," he declared, "so close that +they would not have room to wiggle, and allow intelligent colored people +to go up and vote in preference to them. The only Union element in the +South proper... is among the colored people. The whites will treat you +very kindly to your face, but they are deceitful. I have often thought, +and so expressed myself, that there is so much deception among the +people of the South since the rebellion, that if an earthquake should +open and swallow them up, I was fearful that the devil would be +dethroned and some of them take his place." + +The point of view of the Confederate military leaders was exhibited by +General Wade Hampton in a letter to President Johnson and by General Lee +in his advice to Governor Letcher of Virginia. General Hampton wrote: +"The South unequivocally 'accepts the situation' in which she is placed. +Everything that she has done has been done in perfect faith, and in the +true and highest sense of the word, she is loyal. By this I mean that +she intends to abide by the laws of the land honestly, to fulfill all +her obligations faithfully and to keep her word sacredly, and I assert +that the North has no right to demand more of her. You have no right +to ask, or expect that she will at once profess unbounded love to that +Union from which for four years she tried to escape at the cost of +her best blood and all her treasures." General Lee in order to set an +example applied through General Grant for a pardon under the amnesty +proclamation and soon afterwards he wrote to Governor Letcher: "All +should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to +restore the blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the +country; promote harmony and good-feeling; qualify themselves to vote; +and elect to the State and general legislatures wise and patriotic men, +who will devote their abilities to the interests of the country and the +healing of all dissensions; I have invariably recommended this course +since the cessation of hostilities, and have endeavored to practice it +myself." + +Southerners of the Confederacy everywhere, then, accepted the +destruction of slavery and the renunciation of state sovereignty; they +welcomed an early restoration of the Union, without any punishment of +leaders of the defeated cause. But they were proud of their Confederate +records though now legally "loyal" to the United States; they considered +the Negro as free but inferior, and expected to be permitted to fix his +status in the social organization and to solve the problem of free labor +in their own way. To embarrass the easy and permanent realization of +these views there was a society disrupted, economically prostrate, +deprived of its natural leaders, subjected to a control not always +wisely conceived nor effectively exercised, and, finally, containing +within its own population unassimilated elements which presented +problems fraught with difficulty and danger. + + + +CHAPTER II. WHEN FREEDOM CRIED OUT + +The Negro is the central figure in the reconstruction of the South. +Without the Negro there would have been no Civil War. Granting a war +fought for any other cause, the task of reconstruction would, without +him, have been comparatively simple. With him, however, reconstruction +meant more than the restoring of shattered resources; it meant the more +or less successful attempt to obtain and secure for the freedman civil +and political rights, and to improve his economic and social status. +In 1861, the American Negro was everywhere an inferior, and most of his +race were slaves; in 1865, he was no longer a slave, but whether he was +to be serf, ward, or citizen was an unsettled problem; in 1868, he was +in the South the legal and political equal, frequently the superior, of +the white; and before the end of the reconstruction period he was made +by the legislation of some states and by Congress the legal equal of the +white even in certain social matters. + +The race problem which confronted the American people had no parallel +in the past. British and Spanish-American emancipation of slaves had +affected only small numbers or small regions, in which one race greatly +outnumbered the other. The results of these earlier emancipations of the +Negroes and the difficulties of European states in dealing with subject +white populations were not such as to afford helpful example to American +statesmen. But since it was the actual situation in the Southern States +rather than the experience of other countries which shaped the policies +adopted during reconstruction, it is important to examine with some care +the conditions in which the Negroes in the South found themselves at the +close of the war. + +The Negroes were not all helpless and without experience "when freedom +cried out."* In the Border States and in the North there were, in 1861, +half a million free Negroes accustomed to looking out for themselves. +Nearly 200,000 Negro men were enlisted in the United States army between +1862 and 1865, and many thousands of slaves had followed raiding Federal +forces to freedom or had escaped through the Confederate lines. State +emancipation in Missouri, Maryland, West Virginia, and Tennessee, and +the practical application of the Emancipation Proclamation where the +Union armies were in control ended slavery for many thousands more. +Wherever the armies marched, slavery ended. This was true even in +Kentucky, where the institution was not legally abolished until the +adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment. Altogether more than a million +Negroes were free and to some extent habituated to freedom before May +1865. + + * A Negro phrase much used in referring to emancipation. + + +Most of these war-emancipated Negroes were scattered along the borders +of the Confederacy, in camps, in colonies, in the towns, on refugee +farms, at work with the armies, or serving as soldiers in the ranks. +There were large working colonies along the Atlantic coast from Maryland +to Florida. The chief centers were near Norfolk, where General Butler +was the first to establish a "contraband" camp, in North Carolina, and +on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which had +been seized by the Federal fleet early in the war. To the Sea Islands +also were sent, in 1865, the hordes of Negroes who had followed General +Sherman out of Georgia and South Carolina. Through the border states +from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and along both sides of the +Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, there were other +refugee camps, farms, and colonies. For periods varying from one to four +years these free Negroes had been at work, often amid conditions highly +unfavorable to health, under the supervision of officers of the Treasury +Department or of the army. + +Emancipation was therefore a gradual process, and most of the Negroes, +through their widening experience on the plantations, with the armies, +and in the colonies, were better fitted for freedom in 1865 than they +had been in 1861. Even their years of bondage had done something +for them, for they knew how to work and they had adopted in part the +language, habits, religion, and morals of the whites. But slavery had +not made them thrifty, self-reliant, or educated. Frederick Douglass +said of the Negro at the end of his servitude: "He had none of the +conditions of self-preservation or self-protection. He was free from the +individual master, but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet. +He was free from the old quarter that once gave him shelter, but a slave +to the rains of summer and to the frosts of winter. He was turned loose, +naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky." To prove that he was free +the Negro thought he must leave his old master, change his name, quit +work for a time, perhaps get a new wife, and hang around the Federal +soldiers in camp or garrison, or go to the towns where the Freedmen's +Bureau was in process of organization. To the Negroes who remained at +home--and, curiously enough, for a time at least many did so--the news +of freedom was made known somewhat ceremonially by the master or his +representative. The Negroes were summoned to the "big house," told that +they were free, and advised to stay on for a share of the crop. The +description by Mrs. Clayton, the wife of a Southern general, will +serve for many: "My husband said, 'I think it best for me to inform our +Negroes of their freedom.' So he ordered all the grown slaves to come to +him, and told them they no longer belonged to him as property, but were +all free. 'You are not bound to remain with me any longer, and I have a +proposition to make to you. If any of you desire to leave, I propose to +furnish you with a conveyance to move you, and with provisions for the +balance of the year.' The universal answer was, 'Master, we want to stay +right here with you.' In many instances the slaves were so infatuated +with the idea of being, as they said, 'free as birds' that they left +their homes and consequently suffered; but our slaves were not so +foolish."* + + * "Black and White under the Old Regime", p. 158, + + +The Negroes, however, had learned of their freedom before their old +masters returned from the war; they were aware that the issues of the +war involved in some way the question of their freedom or servitude, +and through the "grapevine telegraph," the news brought by the invading +soldiers, and the talk among the whites, they had long been kept fairly +well informed. What the idea of freedom meant to the Negroes it is +difficult to say. Some thought that there would be no more work and that +all would be cared for by the Government; others believed that education +and opportunity were about to make them the equal of their masters. The +majority of them were too bewildered to appreciate anything except the +fact that they were free from enforced labor. + +Conditions were most disturbed in the so-called "Black Belt," consisting +of about two hundred counties in the most fertile parts of the South, +where the plantation system was best developed and where by far the +majority of the Negroes were segregated. The Negroes in the four hundred +more remote and less fertile "white" counties, which had been less +disturbed by armies, were not so upset by freedom as those of the +Black Belt, for the garrisons and the larger towns, both centers of +demoralization, were in or near the Black Belt. But there was a moving +to and fro on the part of those who had escaped from the South or had +been captured during the war or carried into the interior of the South +to prevent capture. To those who left slavery and home to find freedom +were added those who had found freedom and were now trying to get +back home or to get away from the Negro camps and colonies which +were breaking up. A stream of immigration which began to flow to +the southwest affected Negroes as far as the Atlantic coast. In the +confusion of moving, families were broken up, and children, wife, or +husband were often lost to one another. The very old people and the +young children were often left behind for the former master to care for. +Regiments of Negro soldiers were mustered out in every large town and +their numbers were added to the disorderly mass. Some of the Federal +garrisons and Bureau stations were almost overwhelmed by the numbers of +blacks who settled down upon them waiting for freedom to bestow its full +measure of blessing, and many of the Negroes continued to remain in a +demoralized condition until the new year. + +The first year of freedom was indeed a year of disease, suffering, +and death. Several partial censuses indicate that in 1865-66 the Negro +population lost as many by disease as the whites had lost in war. +Ill-fed, crowded in cabins near the garrisons or entirely without +shelter, and unaccustomed to caring for their own health, the blacks who +were searching for freedom fell an easy prey to ordinary diseases and to +epidemics. Poor health conditions prevailed for several years longer. In +1870, Robert Somers remarked that "the health of the whites has greatly +improved since the war, while the health of the Negroes has declined +till the mortality of the colored population, greater than the mortality +of the whites was before the war, has now become so markedly greater, +that nearly two colored die for every white person out of equal numbers +of each." + +Morals and manners also suffered under the new dispensation. In the +crowded and disease-stricken towns and camps, the conditions under which +the roving Negroes lived were no better for morals than for health, +for here there were none of the restraints to which the blacks had +been accustomed and which they now despised as being a part of their +servitude. But in spite of all the relief that could be given there was +much want. In fact, to restore former conditions the relief agencies +frequently cut off supplies in order to force the Negroes back to work +and to prevent others from leaving the country for the towns. But +the hungry freedmen turned to the nearest food supply, and "spilin de +gypshuns" (despoiling the Egyptians, as the Negroes called stealing from +the whites) became an approved means of support. Thefts of hogs, cattle, +poultry, field crops, and vegetables drove almost to desperation those +whites who lived in the vicinity of the Negro camps. When the ex-slave +felt obliged to go to town, he was likely to take with him a team and +wagon and his master's clothes if he could get them. + +The former good manners of the Negro were now replaced by impudence and +distrust. There were advisers among the Negro troops and other agitators +who assured them that politeness to whites was a mark of servitude. +Pushing and crowding in public places, on street cars and on the +sidewalks, and impudent speeches everywhere marked generally the limit +of rudeness. And the Negroes were, in this respect, perhaps no worse +than those European immigrants who act upon the principle that bad +manners are a proof of independence. + +The year following emancipation was one of religious excitement for +large numbers of the blacks. Before 1865, the Negro church members were +attached to white congregations or were organized into missions, with +nearly always a white minister in charge and a black assistant. With the +coming of freedom the races very soon separated in religious matters. +For this there were two principal reasons: the Negro preachers could +exercise more influence in independent churches; and new church +organizations from the North were seeking Negro membership. Sometimes +Negro members were urged to insist on the right "to sit together" with +the whites. In a Richmond church a Negro from the street pushed his way +to the communion altar and knelt. There was a noticeable pause; then +General Robert E. Lee went forward and knelt beside the Negro; and the +congregation followed his example. But this was a solitary instance. +When the race issue was raised by either color, the church membership +usually divided. There was much churchgoing by the Negroes, day and +night, and church festivities and baptisms were common. The blacks +preferred immersion and, wanted a new baptism each time they changed +to a new church. Baptizings in ponds, creeks, or rivers were great +occasions and were largely attended. "Shouting" the candidates went into +the water and "shouting" they came out. One old woman came up screaming, +"Freed from slavery! freed from sin! Bless God and General Grant!" + +In the effort to realize their new-found freedom, the Negroes were +heavily handicapped by their extreme poverty and their ignorance. The +total value of free Negro property ran up into the millions in 1860, +but the majority of the Negroes had nothing. There were a few educated +Negroes in the South, and more in the North and in Canada, but the mass +of the race was too densely ignorant to furnish its own leadership. The +case, however, was not hopeless; the Negro was able to work and in large +territories had little competition; wages were high, even though paid +in shares of the crop; the cost of living was low; and land was cheap. +Thousands seemed thirsty for an education and crowded the schools which +were available. It was too much, however, to expect the Negro to take +immediate advantage of his opportunities. What he wanted was a long +holiday, a gun and a dog, and plenty of hunting and fishing. He must +have Saturday at least for a trip to town or to a picnic or a circus; he +did not wish to be a servant. When he had any money, swindlers reaped +a harvest. They sold him worthless finery, cheap guns, preparations to +bleach the skin or straighten the hair, and striped pegs which, when set +up on the master's plantation, would entitle the purchaser to "40 acres +and a mule." + +The attitude of the Negroes' employers not infrequently complicated the +situation which they sought to better. The old masters were, as a rule, +skeptical of the value of free Negro labor. Carl Schurz thought this +attitude boded ill for the future: "A belief, conviction, or prejudice, +or whatever you may call it," he said, "so widely spread and apparently +deeply rooted as this, that the Negro will not work without physical +compulsion, is certainly calculated to have a very serious influence +upon the conduct of the people entertaining it. It naturally produced a +desire to preserve slavery in its original form as much and as long as +possible... or to introduce into the new system that element of physical +compulsion which would make the Negro work." The Negro wished to be free +to leave his job when he pleased, but, as Benjamin C. Truman stated in +his report to President Johnson, a "result of the settled belief in the +Negro's inferiority, and in the necessity that he should not be left to +himself without a guardian, is that in some sections he is discouraged +from leaving his old master. I have known of planters who considered it +an offence against neighborhood courtesy for another to hire their old +hands, and in two instances that were reported the disputants came to +blows over the breach of etiquette." The new Freedmen's Bureau insisted +upon written contracts, except for day laborers, and this undoubtedly +kept many Negroes from working regularly, for they were suspicious of +contracts. Besides, the agitators and the Negro troops led them to +hope for an eventual distribution of property. An Alabama planter thus +described the situation in December 1865: + +"They will not work for anything but wages, and few are able to pay +wages. They are penniless but resolute in their demands. They expect to +see all the land divided out equally between them and their old masters +in time to make the next crop. One of the most intelligent black men I +know told me that in a neighboring village, where several hundred +blacks were congregated, he does not think that as many as three made +contracts, although planters are urgent in their solicitations and +offering highest prices for labor they can possibly afford to pay. The +same man informed me that the impression widely prevails that Congress +is about to divide out the lands, and that this impression is given +out by Federal soldiers at the nearest military station. It cannot be +disguised that in spite of the most earnest efforts of their old master +to conciliate and satisfy them, the estrangement between races increases +in its extent and bitterness. Nearly all the Negro men are armed with +repeaters, and many of them carry them openly, day and night." + +The relations between the races were better, however, than conditions +seemed to indicate. The whites of the Black Belt were better disposed +toward the Negroes than were those of the white districts. It was in the +towns and villages that most of the race conflicts occurred. All +whites agreed that the Negro was inferior, but there were many who were +grateful for his conduct during the war and who wished him well. But +others, the policemen of the towns, the "loyalists," those who had +little but pride of race and the vote to distinguish them from the +blacks, felt no good will toward the ex-slaves. It was Truman's opinion +"not only that the planters are far better friends to the Negroes than +the poor whites, but also better than a majority of the Northern men +who go South to rent plantations." John T. Trowbridge, the novelist, who +recorded his impressions of the South after a visit in 1865, was of the +opinion that the Unionists "do not like niggers." "For there is," +he said, "more prejudice against color among the middle and poorer +classes--the Union men of the South who owned few or no slaves--than +among the planters who owned them by scores and hundreds." The reports +of the Freedmen's Bureau are to the same effect. A Bureau agent in +Tennessee testified: "An old citizen, a Union man, said to me, said +he, 'I tell you what, if you take away the military from Tennessee, the +buzzards can't eat up the niggers as fast as we'll kill them.'" + +The lawlessness of the Negroes in parts of the Black Belt and the +disturbing influences of the black troops, of some officials of the +Bureau, and of some of the missionary teachers and preachers, caused the +whites to fear insurrections and to take measures for protection. Secret +semi-military organizations were formed which later developed into the +Ku Klux orders. When, however, New Year's Day 1866 passed without the +hoped-for distribution of Property, the Negroes began to settle down. + +At the beginning of the period of reconstruction, it seemed possible +that the Negro race might speedily fall into distinct economic groups, +for there were some who had property and many others who had the ability +and the opportunity to acquire it; but the later drawing of race lines +and the political disturbances of reconstruction checked this tendency. +It was expected also that the Northern planters who came South in large +numbers in 1865-66 might, by controlling the Negro labor and by the +use of more efficient methods, aid in the economic upbuilding of the +country. But they were ignorant of agricultural matters and incapable of +wisely controlling the blacks; and they failed because at one time they +placed too much trust in the Negroes and at another treated them too +harshly and expected too much of them. + +The question of Negro suffrage was not a live issue in the South until +the middle of 1866. There was almost no talk about it among the Negroes; +they did not know what it was. President Lincoln in 1864 and President +Johnson in 1865 had merely mentioned the subject, though Chief Justice +Chase and prominent radical members of Congress, as well as numerous +abolitionists, had framed a Negro suffrage platform. But the Southern +whites, considering the matter an impossibility, gave it little +consideration. There was, however, both North and South, a tendency to +see a connection between the freedom of the Negroes and their political +rights and thus to confuse civil equality with political and social +privileges. But the great masses of the whites were solidly opposed +to the recognition of Negro equality in any form. The poorer whites, +especially the "Unionists" who hoped to develop an opposition party, +were angered by any discussion of the subject. An Alabama "Unionist," +M. J. Saffold, later prominent as a radical politician, declared to the +Joint Committee on Reconstruction: "If you compel us to carry through +universal suffrage of colored, men... it will prove quite an *incubus +upon us in the organization of a national union party of white men; +it will furnish our opponents with a very effective weapon of offense +against us." + +There were, however, some Southern leaders of ability and standing who, +by 1866, were willing to consider Negro suffrage. These men, among them +General Wade Hampton of South Carolina and Governor Robert Patton of +Alabama, were of the slaveholding class, and they fully counted on being +able to control the Negro's vote by methods similar to those actually +put in force a quarter of a century later. The Negroes were not as yet +politically organized were not even interested in politics, and the +master class might reasonably hope to regain control of them. Whitelaw +Reid published an interview with one of the Hamptons which describes the +situation exactly: + +"A brother of General Wade Hampton, the South Carolina Hotspur, was on +board. He saw no great objection to Negro suffrage, so far as the whites +were concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist +though he was, he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its +effect on the blacks themselves. Hitherto they had in the main, been +modest and respectful, and mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. +But the deference to them likely to be shown by partisans eager for +their votes would have a tendency to uplift them and unbalance them. +Beyond this, no harm would be done the South by Negro suffrage. The old +owners would cast the votes of their people almost as absolutely and +securely as they cast their own. If Northern men expected in this way to +build up a northern party in the South, they were gravely mistaken. They +would only be multiplying the power of the old and natural leaders of +Southern politics by giving every vote to a former slave. Heretofore +such men had served their masters only in the fields; now they would do +no less faithful service at the polls. If the North could stand it, the +South could. For himself, he should make no special objection to Negro +suffrage as one of the terms of reorganization, and if it came, he did +not think the South would have much cause to regret it." + +To sum up the situation at this time: the Negro population at the close +of the war constituted a tremendous problem for those in authority. The +race was free, but without status, without leaders, without property, +and without education. Probably a fourth of them had some experience in +freedom before the Confederate armies surrendered, and the servitude of +the other three millions ended very quickly and without violence. But in +the Black Belt, where the bulk of the black population was to be found, +the labor system was broken up, and for several months the bewildered +freedmen wandered about or remained at home under conditions which were +bad for health, morals, and thrift. The Northern Negroes did not furnish +the expected leadership for the race, and the more capable men in the +South showed a tendency to go North. The unsettled state of the Negroes +and their expectation of receiving a part of the property of the whites +kept the latter uneasy and furnished the occasion of frequent conflicts. +Not the least of the unsettling influences at work upon the Negro +population were the colored troops and the agitators furnished by the +Freedmen's Bureau, the missions, and the Bureau schools. But at the +beginning of the year 1866, the situation appeared to be clearing, and +the social and economic revolution seemed on the way to a quieter ending +than might have been expected. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE WORK OF THE PRESIDENTS + +The war ended slavery, but it left the problem of the freed slave; +it preserved the Union in theory, but it left unsolved many delicate +problems of readjustment. Were the seceded States in or out of the +Union? If in the Union, what rights had they? If they were not in +the Union, what was their status? What was the status of the Southern +Unionist, of the ex-Confederate? What punishments should be inflicted +upon the Southern people? What authority, executive or legislative, +should carry out the work of reconstruction? The end of the war +brought with it, in spite of much discussion, no clear answer to these +perplexing questions. + +Unfortunately, American political life, with its controversies over +colonial government, its conflicting interpretations of written +constitutions, and its legally trained statesmen, had by the middle +of the nineteenth century produced a habit of political thought which +demanded the settlement of most governmental matters upon a theoretical +basis. And now in 1865, each prominent leader had his own plan of +reconstruction fundamentally irreconcilable with all the others, because +rigidly theoretical. During the war the powers of the executive had +been greatly expanded and a legislative reaction was to be expected. The +Constitution called for fresh interpretation in the light of the Civil +War and its results. + +The first theory of reconstruction may be found in the +Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of July 1861, which declared that the war +was being waged to maintain the Union under the Constitution and that +it should cease when these objects were obtained. This would have +been subscribed to in 1861 by the Union Democrats and by most of the +Republicans, and in 1865 the conquered Southerners would have been glad +to reenter the Union upon this basis; but though in 1865 the resolution +still expressed the views of many Democrats, the majority of Northern +people had moved away from this position. + +The attitude of Lincoln, which in 1865 met the views of a majority of +the Northern people though not of the political leaders, was that "no +State can upon its mere motion get out of the Union," that the States +survived though there might be some doubt about state governments, and +that "loyal" state organizations might be established by a population +consisting largely of ex-Confederates who had been pardoned by the +President and made "loyal" for the future by an oath of allegiance. +Reconstruction was, Lincoln thought, a matter for the executive to +handle. But that he was not inflexibly committed to any one plan is +indicated by his proclamation after the pocket veto of the Wade-Davis +Bill and by his last speech, in which he declared that the question of +whether the seceded States were in the Union or out of it was "merely a +pernicious abstraction." In addition, Lincoln said: + +"We are all agreed that the seceded States, so called, are out of their +proper practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of +the government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to +again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe that it +is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or +even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, +than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly +immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing +the acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations between +these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge +his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from +without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never +having been out of it." + +President Johnson's position was essentially that of Lincoln, but his +attitude toward the working out of the several problems was different. +He maintained that the states survived and that it was the duty of the +executive to restore them to their proper relations. "The true theory," +said he, "is that all pretended acts of secession were from the +beginning null and void. The States cannot commit treason nor screen +individual citizens who may have committed treason any more than they +can make valid treaties or engage in lawful commerce with any foreign +power. The states attempting to secede placed themselves in a condition +where their vitality was impaired, but not extinguished; their functions +suspended, but not destroyed." Lincoln would have had no severe +punishments inflicted even on leaders, but Johnson wanted to destroy +the "slavocracy," root and branch. Confiscation of estates would, he +thought, be a proper measure. He said on one occasion: "Traitors should +take a back seat in the work of restoration.... My judgment is that he +[a rebel] should be subjected to a severe ordeal before he is restored +to citizenship. Treason should be made odious, and traitors must be +punished and impoverished. Their great plantations must be seized, +and divided into small farms and sold to honest, industrious men." +The violence of Johnson's views subsequently underwent considerable +modification but to the last he held to the plan of executive +restoration based upon state perdurance. Neither Lincoln nor Johnson +favored a change of Southern institutions other than the abolition of +slavery, though each recommended a qualified Negro suffrage. + +There were, however, other theories in the field, notably those of the +radical Republican leaders. According to the state-suicide theory of +Charles Sumner, "any vote of secession or other act by which any State +may undertake to put an end to the supremacy of the Constitution within +its territory is inoperative and void against the Constitution, and when +sustained by force it becomes a practical ABDICATION by the State of +all rights under the Constitution, while the treason it involves still +further works an instant FORFEITURE of all those functions and powers +essential to the continued existence of the State as a body politic, +so that from that time forward the territory falls under the exclusive +jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and the State, being +according to the language of the law felo de se, ceases to exist." +Congress should punish the "rebels" by abolishing slavery, by giving +civil and political rights to Negroes, and by educating them with the +whites. + +Not essentially different, but harsher, was Thaddeus Stevens's plans +for treating the South as a conquered foreign province. Let the victors +treat the seceded States "as conquered provinces and settle them with +new men and exterminate or drive out the present rebels as exiles." +Congress in dealing with these provinces was not bound even by the +Constitution, "a bit of worthless parchment," but might legislate as it +pleased in regard to slavery, the ballot, and confiscation. With +regard to the white population, he said: "I have never desired bloody +punishments to any great extent. But there are punishments quite as +appalling, and longer remembered, than death. They are more advisable, +because they would reach a greater number. Strip a proud nobility of +their bloated estates; reduce them to a level with plain republicans; +send them forth to labor, and teach their children to enter the +workshops or handle a plow, and you will thus humble the proud +traitors." Stevens and Sumner agreed in reducing the Southern States +to a territorial status. Sumner would then take the principles of the +Declaration of Independence as a guide for Congress, while Stevens would +leave Congress absolute. Neither considered the Constitution as of any +validity in this crisis. + +As a rule the former abolitionists were in 1865 advocates of votes and +lands for the Negro, in whose capacity for self-rule they had complete +confidence. The view of Gerrit Smith may be regarded as typical of the +abolitionist position: + +"Let the first condition of peace with them be that no people in the +rebel States shall ever lose or gain civil or political rights by reason +of their race or origin. The next condition of peace be that our black +allies in the South--those saviours of our nation--shall share with +their poor white neighbors in the subdivisions of the large landed +estates of the South. Let the only other condition be that the rebel +masses shall not, for say, a dozen years, be allowed access to the +ballot-box, or be eligible to office; and that the like restrictions be +for life on their political and military leaders.. .. The mass of the +Southern blacks fall, in point of intelligence, but little, if +any, behind the mass of the Southern whites.... In reference to the +qualifications of the voter, men make too much account of the head and +too little of the heart. The ballot-box, like God, says: 'Give me your +heart.' The best-hearted men are the best qualified to vote; and, in +this light, the blacks, with their characteristic gentleness, patience, +and affectionateness, are peculiarly entitled to vote. We cannot wonder +at Swedenborg's belief that the celestial people will be found in the +interior of Africa; nor hardly can we wonder at the legend that the gods +came down every year to sup with their favorite Africans." + +One of the most statesmanlike proposals was made by Governor John +A. Andrew of Massachusetts. If, forgetting their theories, the +conservatives could have united in support of a restoration conceived in +his spirit, the goal might have been speedily achieved. Andrew demanded +a reorganization, based upon acceptance of the results of the war, but +carried through with the aid of "those who are by their intelligence and +character the natural leaders of their people and who surely will lead +them by and by. These men cannot be kept out forever," said he, "for +the capacity of leadership is a gift, not a device. They whose courage, +talents, and will entitle them to lead, will lead .... If we cannot +gain their support of the just measures needful for the work of safe +reorganization, reorganization will be delusive and full of danger. They +are the most hopeful subjects to deal with. They have the brain and the +experience and the education to enable them to understand... the present +situation. They have the courage as well as the skill to lead the people +in the direction their judgments point.... Is it consistent with reason +and our knowledge of human nature, to believe the masses of Southern men +able to face about, to turn their backs on those they have trusted and +followed, and to adopt the lead of those who have no magnetic hold on +their hearts or minds? It would be idle to reorganize by the colored +vote. If the popular vote of the white race is not to be had in favor of +the guarantees justly required, then I am in favor of holding on--just +where we are now. I am not in favor of a surrender of the present +rights of the Union to a struggle between a white minority aided by +the freedmen on one hand, against the majority of the white race on the +other. I would not consent, having rescued those states by arms from +Secession and rebellion, to turn them over to anarchy and chaos." + +The Southerners, Unionists as well as Confederates, had their views +as well, but at Washington these carried little influence. The former +Confederates would naturally favor the plan which promised best for the +white South, and their views were most nearly met by those of President +Lincoln. Although he held that in principle a new Union had arisen +out of the war, as a matter of immediate political expediency he was +prepared to build on the assumption that the old Union still existed. +The Southern Unionists cared little for theories; they wanted the +Confederates punished, themselves promoted to high offices, and the +Negro kept from the ballot box. + +Even at the beginning of 1866, it was not too much to hope that the +majority of former Republicans would accept conservative methods, +provided the so-called "fruits of the war" were assured--that is, +equality of civil rights, the guarantee of the United States war debt, +the repudiation of the Confederate debt, the temporary disfranchisement +of the leading Confederates, and some arrangement which would keep the +South from profiting by representation based on the non-voting Negro +population. But amid many conflicting policies, none attained to +continuous and compelling authority. + +The plan first put to trial was that of President Lincoln. It was a +definite plan designed to meet actual conditions and, had he lived, he +might have been able to carry it through successfully. Not a +theorist, but an opportunist of the highest type, sobered by years +of responsibility in war time, and fully understanding the precarious +situation in 1865, Lincoln was most anxious to secure an early +restoration of solidarity with as little friction as possible. Better +than most Union leaders he appreciated conditions in the South, the +problem of the races, the weakness of the Southern Unionists, and the +advantage of calling in the old Southern leaders. He was generous and +considerate; he wanted no executions or imprisonments; he wished the +leaders to escape; and he was anxious that the mass of Southerners be +welcomed back without loss of rights. "There is," he declared, "too +little respect for their rights," an unwillingness, in short, to treat +them as fellow citizens. + +This executive policy had been applied from the beginning of the war +as opportunity offered. The President used the army to hold the Border +States in the Union, to aid in "reorganizing" Unionist Virginia and in +establishing West Virginia. The army, used to preserve the Union might +be used also to restore disturbed parts of it to normal condition. +Assuming that the "States" still existed, "loyal" state governments were +the first necessity. By his proclamation of December 8, 1863, Lincoln +suggested a method of beginning the reconstruction: he would pardon any +Confederate, except specified classes of leaders, who took an oath +of loyalty for the future; if as many as ten percent of the voting +population of 1860, thus made loyal, should establish a state government +the executive would recognize it. The matter of slavery must, indeed, +be left to the laws and proclamations as interpreted by the courts, but +other institutions should continue as in 1861. + +This plan was inaugurated in four States which had been in part +controlled by the Federal army from nearly the beginning of the war: +Tennessee (1862), Louisiana (1862), Arkansas (1862), and Virginia after +the formation of West Virginia (1863). For each state Lincoln appointed +a military governor: for Tennessee, Andrew Johnson; for Arkansas, John +S. Phelps; for Louisiana, General Shepley. In Virginia he recognized the +"reorganized" government, which had been transferred to Alexandria +when the new State of West Virginia was formed. The military governors +undertook the slow and difficult work of reorganization, however, +with but slight success owing to the small numbers of Unionists and of +Confederates who would take the oath. But by 1864, "ten percent" state +governments were established in Arkansas and Louisiana, and progress was +being made in Tennessee. + +Congress was impatient of Lincoln's claim to executive precedence in the +matter of reconstruction, and in 1864, both Houses passed the +Wade-Davis Bill, a plan which asserted the right of Congress to control +reconstruction and foreshadowed a radical settlement of the question. +Lincoln disposed of the bill by a pocket veto and, in a proclamation +dated July 8, 1864, stated that he was unprepared "to be inflexibly +committed to any single plan of restoration," or to discourage loyal +citizens by setting aside the governments already established in +Louisiana and Arkansas, or to recognize the authority of Congress to +abolish slavery. He was ready, however, to cooperate with the people +of any State who wished to accept the plan prepared by Congress and +he hoped that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery would be +adopted. + +Lincoln early came to the conclusion that slavery must be destroyed, and +he had urgently advocated deportation of the freedmen, for he believed +that the two races could not live in harmony after emancipation. +The nearest he came to recommending the vote for the Negro was in a +communication to Governor Hahn of Louisiana in March 1864: "I barely +suggest, for your private consideration, whether some of the colored +people may not be let in, as for instance, the very intelligent, and +especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would +probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty +within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the +public, but to you alone." + +Throughout the war President Lincoln assumed that the state +organizations in the South were illegal because disloyal and that new +governments must be established. But just at the close of the war, +probably carried away by feeling, he all but recognized the Virginia +Confederate Government as competent to bring the state back into the +Union. While in Richmond on April 5, 1865, he gave to Judge Campbell a +statement of terms: the national authority to be restored; no recession +on slavery by the executive; hostile forces to disband. The next day he +notified General Weitzel, in command at Richmond, that he might permit +the Virginia Legislature to meet and withdraw military and other support +from the Confederacy. But these measures met strong opposition in +Washington, especially from Secretary Stanton and Senator Wade and other +congressional leaders, and on the 11th of April, Lincoln withdrew his +permission for the legislature to meet. "I cannot go forward," he said, +"with everybody opposed to me." It was on the same day that he made his +last public speech, and Sumner, who was strongly opposed to his policy, +remarked that "the President's speech and other things augur confusion +and uncertainty in the future, with hot contumacy." At a cabinet meeting +on the 14th of April, Lincoln made his last statement on the subject. +It was fortunate, he said, that Congress had adjourned, for "we shall +reanimate the States" before Congress meets; there should be no killing, +no persecutions; there was too much disposition to treat the Southern +people "not as fellow citizens." + +The possibility of a conciliatory restoration ended when Lincoln was +assassinated. Moderate, firm, tactful, of great personal influence, not +a doctrinaire, and not a Southerner like Johnson, Lincoln might have +"prosecuted peace" successfully. His policy was very unlike that +proposed by the radical leaders. They would base the new governments +upon the loyalty of the past plus the aid of enfranchised slaves; he +would establish the new regime upon the loyalty of the future. Like +Governor Andrew he thought that restoration must be effected by the +willing efforts of the South. He would aid and guide but not force the +people. If the latter did not wish restoration, they might remain under +military rule. There should be no forced Negro suffrage, no sweeping +disfranchisement of whites, no "carpetbaggism." + +The work of President Johnson demands for its proper understanding some +consideration of the condition of the political parties at the close of +the war, for politics had much to do with reconstruction. The Democratic +party, divided and defeated in the election of 1860, lost its Southern +members in 1861 by the secession and remained a minority party during +the remainder of the war. It retained its organization, however, and +in 1864 polled a large vote. Discredited by its policy of opposition to +Lincoln's administration, its ablest leaders joined the Republicans +in support of the war. Until 1869, the party was poorly represented +in Congress although, as soon as hostilities ended, the War Democrats +showed a tendency to return to the old party. As to reconstruction, the +party stood on the Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of 1861, though most +Democrats were now willing to have slavery abolished. + +The Republican party--frankly sectional and going into power on the +single issue of opposition to the extension of slavery--was forced by +the secession movement to take up the task of preserving the Union by +war. Consequently, the party developed new principles, welcomed the aid +of the War Democrats, and found it advisable to drop its name and +with its allies to form the Union or National Union party. It was +this National Union party which in 1864 nominated Abraham Lincoln, +a Republican, and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, on the same ticket. +Lincoln's second Cabinet was composed of both Republicans and War +Democrats. When the war ended, the conservative leaders were anxious +to hold the Union party together in order to be in a better position +to settle the problems of reconstruction, but the movement of the War +Democrats back to their old party tended to leave in the Union party +only its Republican members, with the radical leaders dominating. + +In the South the pressure of war so united the people that party +divisions disappeared for a time, but the causes of division continued +to exist, and two parties, at least, would have developed had the +pressure been removed. Though all factions supported the war after it +began, the former Whigs and Douglas Democrats, when it was over, liked +to remember that they had been "Union" men in 1860 and expected to +organize in opposition to the extreme Democrats, who were now charged +with being responsible for the misfortunes of the South. They were in +a position to affiliate with the National Union party of the North if +proper inducements were offered, while the regular Democrats were ready +to rejoin their old party. But the embittered feelings resulting from +the murder of Lincoln and the rapid development of the struggle between +President Johnson and Congress caused the radicals "to lump the old +Union Democrats and Whigs together with the secessionists--and many were +driven where they did not want to go, into temporary affiliation with +the Democratic party." Thousands went very reluctantly; the old Whigs, +indeed, were not firmly committed to the Democrats until radical +reconstruction had actually begun. Still other "loyalists" in the +South were prepared to join the Northern radicals in advocating the +disfranchisement of Confederates and in opposing the granting of +suffrage to the Negroes. + +The man upon whom fell the task of leading these opposing factions, +radical and conservative, along a definite line of action looking to +reunion had few qualifications for the task. Johnson was ill-educated, +narrow, and vindictive and was positive that those who did not agree +with him were dishonest. Himself a Southerner, picked up by the National +Union Convention of 1864, as Thaddeus Stevens said, from "one of those +damned rebel provinces," he loved the Union, worshiped the Constitution, +and held to the strict construction views of the State Rights Democrats. +Rising from humble beginnings, he was animated by the most intense +dislike of the "slavocracy," as he called the political aristocracy of +the South. Like many other American leaders he was proud of his humble +origin, but unlike many others he never sloughed off his backwoods +crudeness. He continually boasted of himself and vilified the +aristocrats, who in return treated him badly. His dislike of them was +so marked that Isham G. Harris, a rival politician, remarked that "if +Johnson were a snake, he would lie in the grass to bite the heels of +rich men's children." His primitive notions of punishment were evident +in 1865 when he advocated imprisonment, execution, and confiscation; but +like other reckless talkers he often said more than he meant. + +When Johnson succeeded to the presidency, the feeling was nearly +universal among the radicals, according to Julian, that he would prove +a godsend to the country, for "aside from Mr. Lincoln's known policy of +tenderness to the rebels, which now so jarred upon the feelings of the +hour, his well known views on the subject of reconstruction were as +distasteful as possible to radical Republicans." Senator Wade declared +to the President: "Johnson, we have faith in you. By the gods, there +will be no trouble now in running the Government!" To which Johnson +replied: "Treason is a crime and crime must be punished. Treason must +be made infamous and traitors must be impoverished." These words are +an index to the speeches of Johnson during 1863-65. Even his radical +friends feared that he would be too vindictive. For a few weeks he was +much inclined to the radical plans, and some of the leaders certainly +understood that he was in favor of Negro suffrage, the supreme test +of radicalism. But when the excitement caused by the assassination of +Lincoln and the break-up of the Confederacy had moderated somewhat, +Johnson saw before him a task so great that his desire for violent +measures was chilled. He must disband the great armies and bring all war +work to an end; he must restore intercourse with the South, which had +been blockaded for years; he must for a time police the country, look +after the Negroes, and set up a temporary civil government; and finally +he must work out a restoration of the Union. Sobered by responsibility +and by the influence of moderate advisers, he rather quickly adopted +Lincoln's policy. Johnson at first set his face against the movements +toward reconstruction by the state governments already organized and +by those people who wished to organize new governments on Lincoln's ten +percent plan. As soon as possible the War Department notified the Union +commanders to stop all attempts at reconstruction and to pursue and +arrest all Confederate governors and other prominent civil leaders. The +President was even anxious to arrest the military leaders who had been +paroled but was checked in this desire by General Grant's firm protest. +His cabinet advisers supported Johnson in refusing to recognize the +Southern state governments; but three of them--Seward, Welles, and +McCulloch--were influential in moderating his zeal for inflicting +punishments. Nevertheless, he soon had in prison the most prominent of +the Confederate civilians and several general officers. The soldiers, +however, were sent home, trade with the South was permitted, and the +Freedmen's Bureau was rapidly extended. + +Previous to this Johnson had brought himself to recognize, early in +May, the Lincoln "ten percent" governments of Louisiana, Tennessee, and +Arkansas, and the reconstructed Alexandria government of Virginia. Thus +only seven states were left without legal governments, and to bring +those states back into the Union, Johnson inaugurated on May 29, 1865, +a plan which was like that of Lincoln but not quite so liberal. In his +Amnesty Proclamation, Johnson made a longer list of exceptions aimed +especially at the once wealthy slave owners. On the same day he +proclaimed the restoration of North Carolina. A provisional governor, W. +W. Holden, was appointed and directed to reorganize the civil government +and to call a constitutional convention elected by those who had taken +the amnesty oath. This convention was to make necessary amendments +to the constitution and to "restore said State to its constitutional +relations to the Federal Government." It is to be noted that Johnson +fixed the qualifications of delegates and of those who elected them, +but, this stage once passed, the convention or the legislature would +"prescribe the qualifications of electors... a power the people of the +several States composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised +from the origin of the government to the present time." The President +also directed the various cabinet officers to extend the work of their +departments over the Confederate States and ordered the army officers +to assist the civil authorities. During the next six weeks, similar +measures were undertaken for the remaining six states of the +Confederacy. + +To set up the new order, army officers were first sent into every county +to administer the amnesty oath and thus to secure a "loyal" electorate. +In each state the provisional governor organized out of the remains of +the Confederate local regime a new civil government. Confederate local +officials who could and would take the amnesty oath were directed to +resume office until relieved; the laws of 1861, except those relating to +slavery, were declared to be in force; the courts were directed to +use special efforts to crush lawlessness; and the old jury lists were +destroyed and new ones were drawn up containing only the names of those +who had taken the amnesty oath. Since there was no money in any state +treasury, small sums were now raised by license taxes. A full staff +of department heads was appointed, and by July 1865, the provisional +governments were in fair working order. + +To the constitutional conventions, which met in the fall, it was made +clear, through the governors, that the President would insist upon three +conditions: the formal abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the +ordinance of secession, and the repudiation of the Confederate war debt. +To Governor Holden he telegraphed: "Every dollar of the debt created to +aid the rebellion against the United States should be repudiated finally +and forever. The great mass of the people should not be taxed to pay a +debt to aid in carrying on a rebellion which they in fact, if left to +themselves, were opposed to. Let those who had given their means for the +obligations of the state look to that power they tried to establish in +violation of law, constitution, and will of the people. They must meet +their fate." With little opposition these conditions were fulfilled, +though there was a strong feeling against the repudiation of the debt, +much discussion as to whether the ordinance of secession should +be "repealed" or declared "now and always null and void," and some +quibbling as to whether slavery was being destroyed by state action or +had already been destroyed by war. + +In the old state constitutions, very slight changes were made. Of +these the chief were concerned with the abolition of slavery and the +arrangement of representation and direct taxation on the basis of white +population. Little effort was made to settle any of the Negro problems, +and in all states the conventions left it to the legislatures to make +laws for the freedmen. There was no discussion of Negro, suffrage in the +conventions, but President Johnson sent what was for him a remarkable +communication to Governor Sharkey of Mississippi: + +"If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color +who can read the Constitution of the United States in English and write +their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at +not less than two hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, +you would completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other +states will follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you would +thus place Southern States in reference to free persons of color +upon the same basis with the free states.... And as a consequence the +radicals, who are wild upon Negro franchise, will be completely foiled +in their attempts to keep the Southern states from renewing +their relations to the Union by not accepting their senators and +representatives." + +In deciding upon a basis of representation, it was clear that the +majority of delegates desired to lessen the influence of the Black Belt +and place the control of the government with the "up country." In the +Alabama convention Robert M. Patton, then a delegate and later governor, +frankly avowed this object, and in South Carolina, Governor Perry urged +the convention to give no consideration to Negro suffrage, "because this +is a white man's government," and if the Negroes should vote they would +be controlled by a few whites. A kindly disposition toward the Negroes +was general except on the part of extreme Unionists, who opposed any +favors to the race. "This is a white man's country" was a doctrine to +which all the conventions subscribed. + +The conventions held brief sessions, completed their work, and +adjourned, after directing that elections be held for state and local +officers and for members of Congress. Before December the appointed +local officials had been succeeded by elected officers; members of +Congress were on their way to Washington; the state legislatures were +assembling or already in session; and the elected governors were +ready to take office. It was understood that as soon as enough state +legislatures ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to make it a part of the +Constitution, the President would permit the transfer of authority to +the new governors. The legislature of Mississippi alone was recalcitrant +about the amendment, and before January 1866, the elected officials were +everywhere installed except in Texas, where the work was not completed +until March. When Congress met in December 1865, the President reported +that all former Confederate States except Texas were ready to be +readmitted. Congress, however, refused to admit their senators and +representatives, and thus began the struggle which ended over a year +later with the victory of the radicals and the undoing of the work of +the two Presidents. + +The plan of the Presidents was at best only imperfectly realized. It was +found impossible to reorganize the Federal Administration in the South +with men who could subscribe to the "ironclad oath," for nearly all who +were competent to hold office had favored or aided the Confederacy. +It was two years before more than a third of the post offices could be +opened. The other Federal departments were in similar difficulties, and +at last women and "carpetbaggers" were appointed. The Freedmen's +Bureau, which had been established coincidently with the provisional +governments, assumed jurisdiction over the Negroes, while the army +authorities very early took the position that any man who claimed to be +a Unionist should not be tried in the local courts but must be given a +better chance in a provost court. Thus a third or more of the population +was withdrawn from the control of the state government. In several +states the head of the Bureau made arrangements for local magistrates +and officials to act as Bureau officials, and in such cases the two +authorities acted in cooperation. The army of occupation, too, exerted +an authority which not infrequently interfered with the workings of the +new state government. Nearly everywhere there was a lack of certainty +and efficiency due to the concurrent and sometimes conflicting +jurisdictions of state government, army commanders, Bureau authorities, +and even the President acting upon or through any of the others. + +The standing of the Southern state organizations was in doubt after the +refusal of Congress to recognize them. Nevertheless, in spite of this +uncertainty they continued to function as states during the year of +controversy which followed; the courts were opened and steadily grew +in influence; here and there militia and patrols were reorganized; +officials who refused to "accept the situation" were dismissed; +elections were held; the legislatures revised the laws to fit new +conditions and enacted new laws for the emancipated blacks. To all this +progress in reorganization, the action of Congress was a severe blow, +since it gave notice that none of the problems of reconstruction were +yet solved. An increasing spirit of irritation and independence was +observed throughout the states in question, and at the elections the +former Confederates gained more and more offices. The year was marked +in the South by the tendency toward the formation of parties, by the +development of the "Southern outrages" issue, by an attempt to frustrate +radical action, and finally by a lineup of the great mass of the whites +in opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment and other radical plans of +Congress. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, appointed when Congress refused +to accept the work of President Johnson, proceeded during several months +to take testimony and to consider measures. The testimony, which was +taken chiefly to support opinions already formed, appeared to prove that +the Negroes and the Unionists were so badly treated that the Freedmen's +Bureau and the army must be kept in the South to protect them; that free +Negro labor was a success but that the whites were hostile to it; that +the whites were disloyal and would, if given control of the Southern +governments and admitted to Congress, constitute a danger to the nation +and especially to the party in power. + +To convince the voters of the North of the necessity of dealing +drastically with the South a campaign of misrepresentation was begun +in the summer of 1865, which became more and more systematic and +unscrupulous as the political struggle at Washington grew fiercer. +Newspapers regularly ran columns headed "Southern Outrages," and every +conceivable mistreatment of blacks by whites was represented as taking +place on a large scale. As General Richard Taylor said, it would seem +that about 1866 every white man, woman, and child in the South began +killing and maltreating Negroes. In truth, there was less and less +ground for objection to the treatment of the blacks as time went on and +as the several agencies of government secured firmer control over the +lawless elements. But fortunately for the radicals their contention +seemed to be established by riots on a large scale in Memphis and New +Orleans where Negroes were killed and injured in much greater number +than whites. + +The rapid development of the radical plans of Congress checked the +tendency toward political division in the South. Only a small party of +rabid Unionists would now affiliate with the radicals, while all +the others reluctantly held together, endorsed Johnson's policy, and +attempted to affiliate with the disintegrating National Union party. +But the defeat of the President's policies in the elections of 1866, the +increasing radicalism of Congress as shown by the Civil Rights Act, the +expansion of the Freedmen's Bureau, the report of the Joint Committee +on Reconstruction, and the proposal of the Fourteenth Amendment led +farsighted Southerners to see that the President was likely to lose in +his fight with Congress. + +Now began, in the latter half of 1866, with some cooperation in the +North and probably with the approval of the President, a movement in the +South to forestall the radicals by means of a settlement which, although +less severe than the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, might yet be +acceptable to Congress. One feature of the settlement was to be some +form of Negro suffrage, either by local action or by constitutional +amendment. Those behind this scheme were mainly of the former governing +class. Negro suffrage, they thought, would take the wind out of the +radical sails, the Southern whites would soon be able to control the +blacks, representation in Congress would be increased, and the Black +Belt would perhaps regain its former political hegemony. It is hardly +necessary to say that the majority of the whites were solidly opposed to +such a measure. But it was hoped to carry it under pressure through +the legislature or to bring it about indirectly through rulings of the +Freedmen's Bureau. + +Coincident with this scheme of partial Negro suffrage an attempt +was made by the conservative leaders in Washington, working with the +Southerners, to propose a revised Fourteenth Amendment which would +give the vote to competent Negroes and not disfranchise the whites. A +conference of Southern governors met in Washington early in 1867 and +drafted such an amendment. But, it was too late. + +Meanwhile the Fourteenth Amendment submitted by Congress had been +brought before the Southern legislatures, and during the winter of +1866-67 it was rejected by all of them. There was strong opposition +to it because it disfranchised the leading whites, but perhaps the +principal reason for its rejection was that the Southern people were not +sure that still more severe conditions might not be imposed later. + +While the President was "restoring" the states which had seceded and +struggling with Congress, the Border States of the South, including +Tennessee (which was admitted in 1866 by reason of its radical state +government), were also in the throes of reconstruction. Though there was +less military interference in these than in the other states, many of +the problems were similar. All had the Freedmen's Bureau, the Negro +race, the Unionists, and the Confederates; in every state, except +Kentucky, Confederates were persecuted, the minority was in control, and +"ring" rule was the order of the day; but in each state there were +signs of the political revolution which a few years later was to put the +radicals out of power. + +The executive plan for the restoration of the Union, begun by Lincoln +and adopted by Johnson, was, as we have seen, at first applied in all +the states which had seceded. A military governor was appointed in each +state by the President by virtue of his authority as commander in chief. +This official, aided by a civilian staff of his own choice and supported +by the United States army and other Federal agencies, reorganized the +state administration and after a few months turned the state and local +governments over to regularly elected officials. Restoration should +now have been completed, but Congress refused to admit the senators +and representatives of these states, and entered upon a fifteen +months' struggle with the President over details of the methods of the +reconstruction. Meanwhile the Southern States, though unrepresented +in Congress, continued their activities, with some interference from +Federal authorities, until Congress in 1867 declared their governments +nonexistent. + +The work begun by Lincoln and Johnson deserved better success. The +original plan restored to political rights only a small number of +Unionists, the lukewarm Confederates, and the unimportant. But in spite +of the threatening speeches of Johnson, he used his power of pardon +until none except the most prominent leaders were excluded. The +personnel of the Johnson governments was fair. The officials were, +in the main, former Douglas Democrats and Whigs, respectable and +conservative, but not admired or loved by the people. The conventions +and the legislatures were orderly and dignified and manifested a desire +to accept the situation. + +There were no political parties at first, but material for several +existed. If things had been allowed to take their course, there would +have arisen a normal cleavage between former Whigs and Democrats, +between the upcountry and the low country, between the slaveholders +and the nonslaveholders. The average white man in these governments was +willing to be fair to the Negro but was not greatly concerned about his +future. In the view of most white people, it was the white man who was +emancipated. The white districts had no desire to let the power return +to the Black Belt by giving the Negro the ballot, for the vote of the +Negroes, they believed, would be controlled by their former masters. + +Johnson's adoption of Lincoln's plan gave notice to all that the +radicals had failed to control him. He and they had little in common; +they wished to uproot a civilization, while he wished to punish +individuals; they were not troubled by constitutional scruples, while he +was the strictest of State Rights Democrats; they thought principally +of the Negro and his potentialities, while Johnson was thinking of the +emancipated white man. It is possible that Lincoln might have succeeded, +but for Johnson the task proved too great. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE WARDS OF THE NATION + +The Negroes at the close of the war were not slaves or serfs, nor were +they citizens. What was to be done with them and for them? The Southern +answer to this question may be found in the so-called "Black Laws," +which were enacted by the state governments set up by President +Johnson. The views of the dominant North may be discerned in part in +the organization and administration of the Freedmen's Bureau. The two +sections saw the same problem from different angles, and their proposed +solutions were of necessity opposed in principle and in practice. + +The South desired to fit the emancipated Negro race into the new social +order by frankly recognizing his inferiority to the whites. In some +things racial separation was unavoidable. New legislation consequently +must be enacted, because the slave codes were obsolete; because the +old laws made for the small free Negro class did not meet present +conditions; and because the emancipated blacks could not be brought +conveniently and at once under laws originally devised for a white +population. The new laws must meet many needs; family life, morals, and +conduct must be regulated; the former slave must be given a status in +court in order that he might be protected in person and property; the +old, the infirm, and the orphans must be cared for; the white race must +be protected from lawless blacks and the blacks from unscrupulous and +violent whites; the Negro must have an opportunity for education; and +the roving blacks must be forced to get homes, settle down, and go to +work. + +Pending such legislation the affairs of the Negro remained in control +of the unpopular Freedmen's Bureau--a "system of espionage," as Judge +Clayton of Alabama called it, and, according to Governor Humphreys of +Mississippi, "a hideous curse" under which white men were persecuted and +pillaged. Judge Memminger of South Carolina, in a letter to President +Johnson, emphasized the fact that the whites of England and the United +States gained civil and political rights through centuries of slow +advancement and that they were far ahead of the people of European +states. Consequently, it would be a mistake to give the freedmen a +status equal to that of the most advanced whites. Rather, let the United +States profit by the experience of the British in their emancipation +policies and arrange a system of apprenticeship for a period of +transition. When the Negro should be fit, let him be advanced to +citizenship. + +Most Southern leaders agreed that the removal of the master's protection +was a real loss to the Negro which must be made good to some extent by +giving the Negro a status in court and by accepting Negro testimony in +all cases in which blacks were concerned. The North Carolina committee +on laws for freedmen agreed with objectors that "there are comparatively +few of the slaves lately freed who are honest" and truthful, but +maintained that the Negroes were capable of improvement. The chief +executives of Mississippi and Florida declared that there was no danger +to the whites in admitting the more or less unreliable Negro testimony, +for the courts and juries would in every case arrive at a proper +valuation of it. Governors Marvin of Florida and Humphreys of +Mississippi advocated practical civil equality, while in North Carolina +and several other States there was a disposition to admit Negro +testimony only in cases in which Negroes were concerned. The North +Carolina committee recommended the abolition of whipping as a punishment +unfit for free people, and most States accepted this principle. Even in +1865, the general disposition was to make uniform laws for both races, +except in regard to violation of contracts, immoral conduct, vagrancy, +marriage, schools, and forms of punishment. In some of these matters the +whites were to be more strictly regulated; in others, the Negroes. + +There was further general agreement that in economic relations both +races must be protected, each from the other; but it is plain that the +leaders believed that the Negro had less at stake than the white. The +Negro was disposed to be indolent; he knew little of the obligations +of contracts; he was not honest; and he would leave his job at will. +Consequently Memminger recommended apprenticeship for all Negroes; +Governor Marvin suggested it for children alone; and others wished it +provided for orphans only. Further, the laws enacted must force the +Negroes to settle down, to work, and to hold to contracts. Memminger +showed that, without legislation to enforce contracts and to secure +eviction of those who refused to work, the white planter in the South +was wholly at the mercy of the Negro. The plantations were scattered, +the laborers' houses were already occupied, and there was no labor +market to which a planter could go if the laborers deserted his fields. + +What would the Negro become if these leaders of reconstruction were +to have their way? Something better than a serf, something less than a +citizen--a second degree citizen, perhaps, with legal rights about equal +to those of white women and children. Governor Marvin hoped to make of +the race a good agricultural peasantry; his successor was anxious that +the blacks should be preferred to European immigrants; others agreed +with Memminger that after training and education he might be advanced to +full citizenship. + +These opinions are representative of those held by the men who, +Memminger excepted, were placed in charge of affairs by President +Johnson and who were not especially in sympathy with the Negroes or +with the planters but rather with the average white. All believed that +emancipation was a mistake, but all agreed that "it is not the Negro's +fault" and gave no evidence of a disposition to perpetuate slavery under +another name. + +The legislation finally framed showed in its discriminatory features the +combined influence of the old laws for free Negroes, the vagrancy laws +of North and South for whites, the customs of slavery times, the British +West Indies legislation for ex-slaves, and the regulations of the United +States War and Treasury Departments and of the Freedmen's Bureau--all +modified and elaborated by the Southern whites. In only two states, +Mississippi and South Carolina, did the legislation bulk large in +quantity; in other states discriminating laws were few; in still other +states none were passed except those defining race and prohibiting +intermarriage. + +In all of the state laws there were certain common characteristics, +among which were the following: the descendant of a Negro was to be +classed as a Negro through the third generation,* even though one parent +in each generation was white; intermarriage of the races was prohibited; +existing slave marriages were declared valid and for the future marriage +was generally made easier for the blacks than for the whites. In all +states the Negro was given his day in court, and in cases relating to +Negroes his testimony was accepted; in six states he might testify +in any case. When provision was made for schooling, the rule of race +separation was enforced. In Mississippi the "Jim Crow car," or separate +car for Negroes, was invented. In several states the Negro had to have +a license to carry weapons, to preach, or to engage in trade. In +Mississippi, a Negro could own land only in town; in other states he +could purchase land only in the country. Why the difference? No one +knows and probably few knew at the time. Some of the legislation was +undoubtedly hasty and ill-considered. + + * Fourth in Tennessee. + + +But the laws relating to apprenticeship, vagrancy, and enforced punitive +employment turned out to be of greater practical importance. On these +subjects the legislation of Mississippi and South Carolina was the most +extreme. In Mississippi orphans were to be bound out, preferably to a +former master, if "he or she shall be a suitable person." The master +was given the usual control over apprentices and was bound by the usual +duties, including that of teaching the apprentice. But the penalties for +"enticing away" apprentices were severe. The South Carolina statute was +not essentially different. The vagrancy laws of these two states were in +the main the same for both races, but in Mississippi the definition +of vagrancy was enlarged to include Negroes not at work, those "found +unlawfully assembling themselves together," and "all white persons +assembling themselves with freedmen." It is to be noted that nearly all +punishment for petty offenses took the form of hiring out, preferably +to the former master or employer. The principal petty offenses were, it +would seem, vagrancy and "enticing away" laborers or apprentices. The +South Carolina statute contains some other interesting provisions. A +Negro, man or woman, who had enjoyed the companionship of two or more +spouses, must by April 1, 1866, select one of them as a permanent +partner; a farm laborer must "rise at dawn," feed the animals, care for +the property, be quiet and orderly, and "retire at reasonable hours;" +on Sunday the servants must take turns in doing the necessary work, and +they must be respectful and civil to the "master and his family, guests, +and agents;" to engage in skilled labor the Negro must obtain a license. +Whipping and the pillory were permitted in Florida for certain offenses, +and in South Carolina the master might "moderately correct" servants +under eighteen years of age. Other punishments were generally the same +for both races, except the hiring out for petty offenses. + +From the Southern point of view none of this legislation was regarded +as a restriction of Negro rights but as a wide extension to the Negro of +rights never before possessed, an adaptation of the white man's laws +to his peculiar case. It is doubtful whether in some of the states +the authorities believed that there were any discriminatory laws; they +probably overlooked some of the free Negro legislation already on the +statute books. In Alabama, for example, General Wager Swayne, the head +of the Freedmen's Bureau, reported that all such laws had either been +dropped by the legislature or had been vetoed by the governor. Yet the +statute books do show some discriminations. There is a marked difference +between earlier and later legislation. The more stringent laws were +enacted before the end of 1865. After New Year's Day had passed and the +Negroes had begun to settle down, the legislatures either passed mild +laws or abandoned all special legislation for the Negroes. Later in +1866, several states repealed the legislation of 1865. + +In so far as the "Black Laws" discriminated against the Negro they were +never enforced but were suspended from the beginning by the army and the +Freedmen's Bureau. They had, however, a very important effect upon that +section of Northern opinion which was already suspicious of the good +faith of the Southerners. They were part of a plan, some believed, to +reenslave the Negro or at least to create by law a class of serfs. This +belief did much to bring about later radical legislation. + +If the "Black Laws" represented the reaction of the Southern +legislatures to racial conditions, the Freedmen's Bureau was the +corresponding result of the interest taken by the North in the welfare +of the Negro. It was established just as the war was closing and arose +out of the various attempts to meet the Negro problems that arose +during the war. The Bureau had always a dual nature, due in part to its +inheritance of regulations, precedents, and traditions from the various +attempts made during war time to handle the many thousands of Negroes +who came under Federal control, and in part to the humanitarian impulses +of 1865, born of a belief in the capacity of the Negro for freedom and +a suspicion that the Southern whites intended to keep as much of slavery +as they could. The officials of the Bureau likewise were of two classes: +those in control were for the most part army officers, standing as +arbiters between white and black, usually just and seldom the victims of +their sympathies but the mass of less responsible officials were men of +inferior ability and character, either blind partisans of the Negro or +corrupt and subject to purchase by the whites. + +In view of the fact that the Freedmen's Bureau was considered a new +institution in 1865, it is rather remarkable how closely it followed in +organization, purpose, and methods the precedents set during the war by +the officers of the army and the Treasury. In Virginia, General Butler, +in 1861, declared escaped slaves to be "contraband" and proceeded to +organize them into communities for discipline, work, food, and care. His +successors in Virginia and North Carolina, and others in the Sea Islands +of Georgia and South Carolina, extended his plan and arranged a labor +system with fixed wages, hours, and methods of work, and everywhere +made use of the captured or abandoned property of the Confederates. In +Tennessee and Arkansas, Chaplain John Eaton of Grant's army employed +thousands in a modified free labor system; and further down in +Mississippi and Louisiana Generals Grant, Butler, and Banks also put +large numbers of captured slaves to work for themselves and for the +Government. Everywhere, as the numbers of Negroes increased, the army +commanders divided the occupied Negro regions into districts under +superintendents and other officials, framed labor laws, cooperated +with benevolent societies which gave schooling and medical care to the +blacks, and developed systems of government for them. + +The United States Treasury Department, attempting to execute the +confiscation laws for the benefit of the Treasury, appears now and then +as an employer of Negro labor on abandoned plantations. Either alone +or in cooperation with the army and charitable associations, it even +supervised Negro colonies, and sometimes it assumed practically complete +control of the economic welfare of the Negro. This Department introduced +in 1864 an elaborate lessee and trade system. The Negro was regarded as +"the ward of the nation," but he was told impressively that "labor is a +public duty and idleness and vagrancy a crime." All wanted him to work: +the Treasury wanted cotton and other crops to sell; the lessees and +speculators wanted to make fortunes by his labor; and the army wanted +to be free from the burden of the idle blacks. In spite of all these +ministrations, the Negroes suffered much from harsh treatment, neglect, +and unsanitary conditions. + +During 1863 and 1864, several influences were urging the establishment +of a national bureau or department to take charge of matters relating to +the African race. Some wished to establish on the borders of the South a +paid labor system, which might later be extended over the entire +region, to get more slaves out of the Confederacy into this free labor +territory, and to prevent immigration of Negroes into the North, which, +after the Emancipation Proclamation, was apprehensive of this danger. +Others wished to relieve the army and the treasury officials of the +burden of caring for the blacks and to protect the latter from the +"northern harpies and bloodhounds" who had fastened upon them the lessee +system. + +The discussion lasted for two years. The Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, +after a survey of the field in 1863, recommended a consolidation of all +efforts under an organization which should perpetuate the best features +of the old system. But there was much opposition to this plan in +Congress. The Negroes would be exploited, objected some; the scheme +gave too much power to the proposed organization, said others; another +objection was urged against the employment of a horde of incompetent and +unscrupulous officeholders, for "the men who go down there and become +your overseers and Negro drivers will be your broken-down politicians +and your dilapidated preachers, that description of men who are too lazy +to work and just a little too honest to steal." + +As the war drew to a close, the advocates of a policy of consolidation +in Negro affairs prevailed, and on March 3, 1865, an act was approved +creating in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and +Abandoned Lands. This Bureau was to continue for one year after the +close of the war, and it was to control all matters relating to freedmen +and refugees, that is, Unionists who had been driven out of the South. +Food, shelter, and clothing were to be given to the needy, and abandoned +or confiscated property was to be used for or leased to freedmen. At +the head of the Bureau was to be a commissioner with an assistant +commissioner for each of the Southern States. These officials and other +employees must take the "ironclad" oath. + +It was planned that the Bureau should have a brief existence, but the +institution and its wards became such important factors in politics that +on July 16, 1866, after a struggle with the President, Congress passed +an act over his veto amplifying the powers of the Bureau and extending +it for two years longer. This continuation of the Bureau was due to many +things: to a belief that former slaveholders were not to be trusted in +dealing with the Negroes; to the baneful effect of the "Black Laws" +upon Northern public opinion; to the struggle between the President +and Congress over reconstruction; and to the foresight of radical +politicians who saw in the institution an instrument for the political +instruction of the blacks in the proper doctrines. + +The new law was supplementary to the Act of 1865, but its additional +provisions merely endorsed what the Bureau was already doing. It +authorized the issue of medical supplies, confirmed certain sales of +land to Negroes, and provided that the promises which Sherman made in +1865 to the Sea Island Negroes should be carried out as far as possible +and that no lands occupied by blacks should be restored to the owners +until the crops of 1866 were gathered; it directed the Bureau to +cooperate with private charitable and benevolent associations, and +it authorized the use or sale for school purposes of all confiscated +property; and finally it ordered that the civil equality of the Negro be +upheld by the Bureau and its courts when state courts refused to accept +the principle. By later laws the existence of the Bureau was extended to +January 1, 1869, in the unreconstructed States, but its educational and +financial activities were continued until June 20, 1872. + +The chief objections to the Bureau from the conservative Northern +point of view were summed up in the President's veto messages. The laws +creating it were based, he asserted, on the theory that a state of war +still existed; there was too great a concentration of power in the hands +of a few individuals who could not be held responsible; with such a +large number of agents ignorant of the country and often working for +their own advantage injustice would inevitably result; in spite of +the fact that the Negro everywhere had a status in court, arbitrary +tribunals were established, without jury, without regular procedure +or rules of evidence, and without appeal; the provisions in regard to +abandoned lands amounted to confiscation without a hearing; the Negro, +who must in the end work out his own salvation, and who was protected +by the demand for his labor, would be deluded into thinking his future +secure without further effort on his part; although nominally under the +War Department, the Bureau was not subject to military control; it was +practically a great political machine; and, finally, the states most +concerned were not represented in Congress. + +The Bureau was soon organized in all the former slaveholding States +except Delaware, with general headquarters in Washington and state +headquarters at the various capitals. General O. O. Howard, who was +appointed commissioner, was a good officer, softhearted, honest, +pious, and frequently referred to as "the Christian soldier." He +was fair-minded and not disposed to irritate the Southern whites +unnecessarily, but he was rather suspicious of their intentions +toward the Negroes, and he was a believer in the righteousness of the +Freedmen's Bureau. He was not a good business man; and he was not beyond +the reach of politicians. At one time he was seriously disturbed in his +duties by the buzzing of the presidential bee in his bonnet. The members +of his staff were not of his moral stature, and several of them were +connected with commercial and political enterprises which left their +motives open to criticism. + +The assistant commissioners were, as a rule, general officers of the +army, though a few were colonels and chaplains.* Nearly half of them had +during the war been associated with the various attempts to handle the +Negro problem, and it was these men who shaped the organization of the +Bureau. While few of them were immediately acceptable to the Southern +whites, only ten of them proved seriously objectionable on account +of personality, character, or politics. Among the most able should +be mentioned Generals Schofield, Swayne, Fullerton, Steedman, and +Fessenden, and Colonel John Eaton. The President had little or no +control over the appointment or discipline of the officials and agents +of the Bureau, except possibly by calling some of the higher army +officers back to military service. + + * They numbered eleven at first and fourteen after July + 1866, and were changed so often that fifty, in all, served + in this rank before January 1, 1869, when the Bureau was + practically discontinued. + + +As a result of General Grant's severe criticism of the arrangement +which removed the Bureau from control by the military establishment, +the military commander was in a few instances also appointed assistant +commissioner. Each assistant commissioner was aided by a headquarters +staff and had under his jurisdiction in each state various district, +county, and local agents, with a special corps of school officials, +who were usually teachers and missionaries belonging to religious and +charitable societies. The local agents were recruited from the +members of the Veteran Reserve Corps, the subordinate officers and +non-commissioned officers of the army, mustered-out soldiers, officers +of Negro troops, preachers, teachers, and Northern civilians who had +come South. As a class these agents were not competent persons to guide +the blacks in the ways of liberty or to arbitrate differences between +the races. There were many exceptions, but the Southern view as +expressed by General Wade Hampton had only too much foundation: "There +MAY be," he said, "an honest man connected with the Bureau." John Minor +Botts, a Virginian who had remained loyal to the Union, asserted that +many of the agents were good men who did good work but that trouble +resulted from the ignorance and fanaticism of others. The minority +members of the Ku Klux Committee condemned the agents as being +"generally of a class of fanatics without character or responsibility." + +The chief activities of the Bureau included the following five +branches: relief work for both races; the regulation of Negro labor; the +administration of justice in cases concerning Negroes; the management of +abandoned and confiscated property; and the support of schools for the +Negroes. + +The relief work which was carried on for more than four years consisted +of caring for sick Negroes who were within reach of the hospitals, +furnishing food and sometimes clothing and shelter to destitute blacks +and whites, and transporting refugees of both races back to their homes. +Nearly a hundred hospitals and clinics were established, and half a +million patients were treated. This work was greatly needed, especially +for the old and the infirm, and it was well done. The transportation +of refugees did not reach large proportions, and after 1866 it was +entangled in politics. But the issue of supplies in huge quantities +brought much needed relief though at the same time a certain amount of +demoralization. The Bureau claimed little credit, and is usually +given none, for keeping alive during the fall and winter of 1865-1866 +thousands of destitute whites. Yet more than a third of the food +issued was to whites, and without it many would have starved. Numerous +Confederate soldiers on the way home after the surrender were fed by the +Bureau, and in the destitute white districts a great deal of suffering +was relieved and prevented by its operations. The Negroes, dwelling for +the most part in regions where labor was in demand, needed relief for +a shorter time, but they were attracted in numbers to the towns by free +food, and it was difficult to get them back to work. The political value +of the free food issues was not generally recognized until later in 1866 +and in 1867. + +During the first year of the Bureau an important duty of the agents was +the supervision of Negro labor and the fixing of wages. Both officials +and planters generally demanded that contracts be written, approved, and +filed in the office of the Bureau. They thought that the Negroes would +work better if they were thus bound by contracts. The agents usually +required that the agreements between employer and laborer cover such +points as the nature of the work, the hours, food and clothes, medical +attendance, shelter, and wages. To make wages secure, the laborer was +given a lien on the crop; to secure the planter from loss, unpaid +wages might be forfeited if the laborer failed to keep his part of the +contract. When it dawned upon the Bureau authorities that other systems +of labor had been or might be developed in the South, they permitted +arrangements for the various forms of cash and share renting. But it +was everywhere forbidden to place the Negroes under "overseers" or to +subject them to "unwilling apprenticeship" and "compulsory working out +of debts." The written contract system for laborers did not work out +successfully. The Negroes at first were expecting quite other fruits of +freedom. One Mississippi Negro voiced what was doubtless the opinion of +many when he declared that he "considered no man free who had to work +for a living." Few Negroes would contract for more than three months and +none for a period beyond January 1, 1866, when they expected a division +of lands among the ex-slaves. In spite of the regulations, most worked +on oral agreements. In 1866 nearly all employers threw overboard the +written contract system for labor and permitted oral agreements. Some +states had passed stringent laws for the enforcing of contracts, but in +Alabama, Governor Patton vetoed such legislation on the ground that it +was not needed. General Swayne, the Bureau chief for the state, endorsed +the Governor's action and stated that the Negro was protected by his +freedom to leave when mistreated, and the planter, by the need on the +part of the Negro for food and shelter. Negroes, he said, were afraid of +contracts and, besides, contracts led to litigation. + +In order to safeguard the civil rights of the Negroes, the Bureau was +given authority to establish courts of its own and to supervise the +action of state courts in cases to which freedmen were parties. The +majority of the assistant commissioners made no attempt to let the state +courts handle Negro cases but were accustomed to bring all such cases +before the Bureau or the provost courts of the army. In Alabama, quite +early, and later in North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia, the +wiser assistant commissioners arranged for the state courts to handle +freedmen's cases with the understanding that discriminating laws were to +be suspended. General Swayne in so doing declared that he was "unwilling +to establish throughout Alabama courts conducted by persons foreign +to her citizenship and strangers to her laws." The Bureau courts were +informal affairs, consisting usually of one or two administrative +officers. There were no jury, no appeal beyond the assistant +commissioner, no rules of procedure, and no accepted body of law. In +state courts accepted by the Bureau, the proceedings in Negro cases were +conducted in the same manner as for the whites. + +The educational work of the Bureau was at first confined to cooperation +with such Northern religious and benevolent societies as were organizing +schools and churches for the Negroes. After the first year, the Bureau +extended financial aid and undertook a system of supervision over Negro +schools. The teachers employed were Northern whites and Negroes in about +equal numbers. Confiscated Confederate property was devoted to Negro +education, and in several states the assistant commissioners collected +fees and percentages of the Negroes' wages for the benefit of the +schools. In addition the Bureau expended about six million dollars. + +The intense dislike which the Southern whites manifested for the +Freedmen's Bureau was due in general to their resentment of outside +control of domestic affairs and in particular to unavoidable +difficulties inherent in the situation. Among the concrete causes of +Southern hostility was the attitude of some of the higher officials and +many of the lower ones toward the white people. They assumed that the +whites were unwilling to accord fair treatment to the blacks in the +matter of wages, schools, and justice. An official in Louisiana declared +that the whites would exterminate the Negroes if the Bureau were +removed. A few months later General Fullerton in the same State reported +that trouble was caused by those agents who noisily demanded special +privileges for the Negro but who objected to any penalties for his +lawlessness and made of the Negroes a pampered class. General Tillson +in Georgia predicted the extinction of the "old time Southerner with his +hate, cruelty, and malice." General Fisk declared that "there are some +of the meanest, unsubjugated and unreconstructed rascally revolutionists +in Kentucky that curse the soil of the country... a more select number +of vindictive, pro-slavery, rebellious legislators cannot be found than +a majority of the Kentucky legislature." There was a disposition to +lecture the whites about their sins in regard to slavery and to point +out to them how far in their general ignorance and backwardness they +fell short of enlightened people. + +The Bureau courts were frequently conducted in an "illegal and +oppressive manner," with "decided partiality for the colored people, +without regard to justice." For this reason they were suspended for a +time in Louisiana and Georgia by General Steedman and General Fullerton, +and cases were then sent before military courts. Men of the highest +character were dragged before the Bureau tribunals upon frivolous +complaints, were lectured, abused, ridiculed, and arbitrarily fined or +otherwise punished. The jurisdiction of the Bureau courts weakened the +civil courts and their frequent interference in trivial matters was not +conducive to a return to normal conditions. + +The inferior agents, not sufficiently under the control of their +superiors, were responsible for a great deal of this bad feeling. Many +of them held radical opinions as to the relations of the races, and +inculcated these views in their courts, in the schools, and in the new +Negro churches. Some were charged with even causing strikes and other +difficulties in order to be bought off by the whites. The tendency of +their work was to create in the Negroes a pervasive distrust of the +whites. + +The prevalent delusion in regard to an impending division of the +lands among the blacks had its origin in the operation of the war-time +confiscation laws, in some of the Bureau legislation, and in General +Sherman's Sea Island order, but it was further fostered by the agents +until most blacks firmly believed that each head of a family was to get +"40 acres and a mule." This belief seriously interfered with industry +and resulted also in widespread swindling by rascals who for years made +a practice of selling fraudulent deeds to land with red, white, and blue +sticks to mark off the bounds of a chosen spot on the former master's +plantation. The assistant commissioners labored hard to disabuse the +minds of the Negroes, but their efforts were often neutralized by the +unscrupulous attitude of the agents. + +As the contest over reconstruction developed in Washington, the +officials of the Bureau soon recognized the political possibilities of +their institution. After midyear of 1866, the Bureau became a political +machine for the purpose of organizing the blacks into the Union League, +where the rank and file were taught that reenslavement would follow +Democratic victories. Nearly all of the Bureau agents aided in +the administration of the reconstruction acts in 1867 and in the +organization of the new state and local governments and became officials +under the new regime. They were the chief agents in capturing the solid +Negro vote for the Republican party. + +Neither of the two plans for guiding the freedmen into a place in +the social order--the "Black Laws" and the Freedmen's Bureau--was +successful. The former contained a program which was better suited to +actual conditions and which might have succeeded if it had been given a +fair trial. These laws were a measure of the extent to which the average +white would then go in "accepting the situation" so far as the blacks +were concerned. And on the whole the recognition of Negro rights made in +these laws, and made at a time when the whites believed that they were +free to handle the situation, was remarkably fair. The Negroes lately +released from slavery were admitted to the enjoyment of the same rights +as the whites as to legal protection of life, liberty, and property, as +to education and as to the family relation, limited only by the clear +recognition of the principles of political inferiority and social +separation. Unhappily this legislation was not put to the test +of practical experience because of the Freedmen's Bureau; it was +nevertheless skillfully used to arouse the dominant Northern party to a +course of action which made impossible any further effort to treat the +race problem with due consideration to actual local conditions. + +Much of the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was of only temporary benefit +to both races. The results of its more permanent work were not generally +good. The institution was based upon the assumption that the Negro +race must be protected from the white race. In its organization and +administration it was an impossible combination of the practical and +the theoretical, of opportunism and humanitarianism, of common sense and +idealism. It failed to exert a permanently wholesome influence because +its lesser agents were not held to strict accountability by their +superiors. Under these agents the alienation of the two races began, and +the ill feelings then aroused were destined to persist into a long and +troubled future. + + + +CHAPTER V. THE VICTORY OF THE RADICALS + +The soldiers who fought through the war to victory or to defeat had +been at home nearly two years before the radicals developed sufficient +strength to carry through their plans for a revolutionary reconstruction +of the Southern states. At the end of the war, a majority of the +Northern people would have supported a settlement in accordance with +Lincoln's policy. Eight months later a majority, but a smaller one, +would have supported Johnson's work had it been possible to secure a +popular decision on it. How then did the radicals gain the victory over +the conservatives? The answer to this question is given by James Ford +Rhodes in terms of personalities: "Three men are responsible for the +Congressional policy of Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson, by his +obstinacy and bad behavior; Thaddeus Stevens, by his vindictiveness and +parliamentary tyranny; Charles Sumner, by his pertinacity in a misguided +humanitarianism." The President stood alone in his responsibility, +but his chief opponents were the ablest leaders of a resolute band of +radicals. + +Radicalism did not begin in the Administration of Andrew Johnson. +Lincoln had felt its covert opposition throughout the war, but he +possessed the faculty of weakening his opponents, while Johnson's +conduct usually multiplied the number and the strength of his enemies. +At first the radicals criticized Lincoln's policy in regard to slavery, +and after the Emancipation Proclamation they shifted their attack to his +"ten percent" plan for organizing the state governments as outlined in +the Proclamation of December 1863. Lincoln's course was distasteful to +them because he did not admit the right of Congress to dictate terms, +because of his liberal attitude towards former Confederates, and because +he was conservative on the Negro question. A schism among the Republican +supporters of the war was with difficulty averted in 1864, when Fremont +threatened to lead the radicals in opposition to the "Union" party of +the President and his conservative policy. + +The breach was widened by the refusal of Congress to admit +representatives from Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864 and to count the +electoral vote of Louisiana and Tennessee in 1865. The passage of the +Wade-Davis reconstruction bill in July 1864, and the protests of its +authors after Lincoln's pocket veto called attention to the growing +opposition. Severe criticism caused Lincoln to withdraw the propositions +which he had made in April 1865, with regard to the restoration of +Virginia. In his last public speech, he referred with regret to +the growing spirit of vindictiveness toward the South. Much of the +opposition to Lincoln's Southern policy was based not on radicalism, +that is, not on any desire for a revolutionary change in the South, but +upon a belief that Congress and not the executive should be entrusted +with the work of reorganizing the Union. Many congressional leaders were +willing to have Congress itself carry through the very policies which +Lincoln had advocated, and a majority of the Northern people would have +endorsed them without much caring who was to execute them. + +The murder of Lincoln, the failure of the radicals to shape Johnson's +policy as they had hoped, and the continuing reaction against the +excessive expansion of the executive power added strength to the +opposition. But it was a long fight before the radical leaders won. +Their victory was due to adroit tactics on their own part and to +mistakes, bad judgment, and bad manners on the part of the President. +When all hope of controlling Johnson had been given up, Thaddeus Stevens +and other leaders of similar views began to contrive means to circumvent +him. On December 1, 1865, before Congress met, a caucus of radicals held +in Washington agreed that a joint committee of the two Houses should be +selected to which should be referred matters relating to reconstruction. +This plan would thwart the more conservative Senate and gain a desirable +delay in which the radicals might develop their campaign. The next day +at a caucus of the Union party the plan went through without arousing +the suspicion of the supporters of the Administration. Next, through the +influence of Stevens, Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House, omitted +from the roll call of the House the names of the members from the +South. The radical program was then adopted and a week later the Senate +concurred in the action of the House as to the appointment of a Joint +Committee on Reconstruction. + +On the issues before Congress both Houses were split into rather clearly +defined factions: the extreme radicals with such leaders as Stevens, +Sumner, Wade, and Boutwell; the moderate Republicans, chief among whom +were Fessenden and Trumbull; the administration Republicans led by +Raymond, Doolittle, Cowan, and Dixon; and the Democrats, of whom the +ablest were Reverdy Johnson, Guthrie, and Hendricks. All except the +extreme radicals were willing to support the President or to come to +some fairly reasonable compromise. But at no time were they given an +opportunity to get together. Johnson and the administration leaders did +little in this direction and the radicals made the most skillful use of +the divisions among the conservatives. + +Whatever final judgment may be passed upon the radical reconstruction +policy and its results, there can be no doubt of the political dexterity +of those who carried it through. Chief among them was Thaddeus Stevens, +vindictive and unscrupulous, filled with hatred of the Southern leaders, +bitter in speech and possessing to an extreme degree the faculty of +making ridiculous those who opposed him. He advocated confiscation, the +proscription or exile of leading whites, the granting of the franchise +and of lands to the Negroes, and in Southern states the establishment +of territorial governments under the control of Congress. These states +should, he said, "never be recognized as capable of acting in the +Union... until the Constitution shall have been so amended as to make +it what the makers intended, and so as to secure perpetual ascendancy to +the party of the Union." + +Charles Sumner, the leader of the radicals in the Senate, was moved less +than Stevens by personal hostility toward the whites of the South, but +his sympathy was reserved entirely for the blacks. He was unpractical, +theoretical, and not troubled by constitutional scruples. To him the +Declaration of Independence was the supreme law, and it was the duty of +Congress to express its principles in appropriate legislation. Unlike +Stevens, who had a genuine liking for the Negro, Sumner's sympathy +for the race was purely intellectual; for the individual Negro he felt +repulsion. His views were in effect not different from those of Stevens. +And he was practical enough not to overlook the value of the Negro vote. +"To my mind," he said, "nothing is clearer than the absolute necessity +of suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized states. It will +not be enough if you give it to those who read and write; you will +not, in this way, acquire the voting force which you need there for the +protection of unionists, whether white or black. You will not secure +the new allies who are essential to the national cause." A leader of the +second rank was his colleague Henry Wilson, who was also actuated by +a desire for the Negro's welfare and for the perpetuation of the +Republican party, which he said contained in its ranks "more of +moral and intellectual worth than was ever embodied in any political +organization in any land... created by no man or set of men but brought +into being by Almighty God himself... and endowed by the Creator with +all political power and every office under Heaven." Shellabarger of Ohio +was another important figure among the radicals. The following extract +from one of his speeches gives an indication of his character and +temperament: "They [the Confederates] framed iniquity and universal +murder into law.... Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce upon +every sea. They carved the bones of the dead heroes into ornaments, +and drank from goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your +fountains, put mines under your soldiers' prisons; organized bands whose +leaders were concealed in your homes; and commissions ordered the torch +and yellow fever to be carried to your cities and to your women and +children. They planned one universal bonfire of the North from Lake +Ontario to the Missouri." + +Among the lesser lights may be mentioned Morton and Wade, both bluff, +coarse, and ungenerous, and thoroughly convinced that the Republican +party had a monopoly of loyalty, wisdom, and virtues, and that by any +means it must gain and keep control; Boutwell, fanatical and mediocre; +and Benjamin Butler, a charlatan and demagogue. As a class the Western +radicals were less troubled by humanitarian ideals than were those of +the East and sought more practical political results. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction which finally decided the fate +of the Southern states was composed of eight radicals, four moderate +Republicans, and three Democrats. As James Gillespie Blaine wrote +later, "it was foreseen that in an especial degree the fortunes of the +Republican party would be in the keeping of the fifteen men who might +be chosen." This committee was divided into four subcommittees to take +testimony. The witnesses, all of whom were examined at Washington, +included army officers and Bureau agents who had served in the South, +Southern Unionists, a few politicians, and several former Confederates, +among them General Robert E. Lee and Alexander H. Stephens. Most of +the testimony was of the kind needed to support the contentions of the +radicals that Negroes were badly treated in the South; that the whites +were disloyal; that, should they be left in control, the Negro, free +labor, the nation, and the Republican party would be in danger; that +the army and the Freedmen's Bureau must be kept in the South; and that +a radical reconstruction was necessary. No serious effort, however, was +made to ascertain the actual conditions in the South. Slow to formulate +a definite plan, the Joint Committee guided public sentiment toward +radicalism, converted gradually the Republican Congressmen, and little +by little undermined the power and influence of the President. + +Not until after the new year was it plain that there was to be a fight +to the finish between Congress and the President. Congress had refused +in December 1865, to accept the President's program, but there was still +hope for a compromise. Many conservatives had voted for the delay merely +to assert the rights of Congress; but the radicals wanted time to frame +a program. The Northern Democrats were embarrassingly cordial in their +support of Johnson and so also were most Southerners. The moderates were +not far away from the position of the President and the administration +Republicans. But the radicals skillfully postponed a test of strength +until Stevens and Sumner were ready. The latter declared that a +generation must elapse "before the rebel communities have so far been +changed as to become safe associates in a common government. Time, +therefore, we must have. Through time all other guarantees may be +obtained; but time itself is a guarantee." + +To the Joint Committee were referred without debate all measures +relating to reconstruction, but the Committee was purposely making +little progress--contented merely to take testimony and to act as a +clearing house for the radical "facts" about "Southern outrages" while +waiting for the tide to turn. The "Black Laws" and the election of +popular Confederate leaders to office in the South were effectively used +to alarm the friends of the Negroes, and the reports from the +Bureau agents gave support to those who condemned the Southern state +governments as totally inadequate and disloyal. + +So apparent was the growth of radicalism that the President, alarmed by +the attitude of Sumner and Stevens and their followers, began to fear +for the Constitution and forced the fight. The passage of a bill on +February 6, 1866, extending the life of the Freedmen's Bureau furnished +the occasion for the beginning of the open struggle. On the 19th of +February, Johnson vetoed the bill, and the next day an effort was made +to pass it over the veto. Not succeeding in this attempt, the House +of Representatives adopted a concurrent resolution that Senators and +Representatives from the Southern states should be excluded until +Congress declared them entitled to representation. Ten days later the +Senate also adopted the resolution. + +Though it was not yet too late for Johnson to meet the conservatives +of Congress on middle ground, he threw away his opportunity by an +intemperate and undignified speech on the 22d of February to a crowd at +the White House. As usual when excited, he forgot the proprieties and +denounced the radicals as enemies of the Union and even went so far +as to charge Stevens, Sumner, and Wendell Phillips with endeavoring +to destroy the fundamental principles of the government. Such conduct +weakened his supporters and rejoiced his enemies. It was expected that +Johnson would approve the bill to confer civil rights upon the Negroes, +but, goaded perhaps by the speeches of Stevens, he vetoed it on the 27th +of March. Its patience now exhausted, Congress passed the bill over +the President's veto. To secure the requisite majority in the Senate, +Stockton, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, was unseated on technical +grounds, and Senator Morgan, who was "paired" with a sick colleague, +broke his word to vote aye--for which Wade offensively thanked God. The +moderates had now fallen away from the President, and at least for this +session of Congress, his policies were wrecked. On the 16th of July, the +supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act was passed over the veto, and on +the 24th of July Tennessee was readmitted to representation by a law +the preamble of which asserted unmistakably that Congress had assumed +control of reconstruction. + +Meanwhile the Joint Committee on Reconstruction had made a report +asserting that the Southerners had forfeited all constitutional rights, +that their state governments were not in constitutional form, and that +restoration could be accomplished only when Congress and the President +acted together in fixing the terms of readmission. The uncompromising +hostility of the South, the Committee asserted, made necessary adequate +safeguards which should include the disfranchisement of the white +leaders, either Negro suffrage or a reduction of white representation, +and repudiation of the Confederate war debt with recognition of the +validity of the United States debt. These terms were embodied in the +Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted by Congress and sent to the +States on June 13, 1866. + +In the congressional campaign of 1866, reconstruction was almost the +sole issue. For success the Administration must gain at least one-third +of one house, while the radicals were fighting for two-thirds of each +House. If the Administration should fail to make the necessary gain, the +work accomplished by the Presidents would be destroyed. The campaign +was bitter and extended through the summer and fall. Four national +conventions were held: the National Union party at Philadelphia made a +respectable showing in support of the President; the Southern Unionists, +guided by the Northern radicals met at the same place; a soldiers' +and sailors' convention at Cleveland supported the Administration; and +another convention of soldiers and sailors at Pittsburgh endorsed the +radical policies. A convention of Confederate soldiers and sailors at +Memphis endorsed the President, but the Southern support and that of the +Northern Democrats did not encourage moderate Republicans to vote for +the Administration. Three members of Johnson's Cabinet--Harlan, Speed, +and Dennison--resigned because they were unwilling to follow their chief +further in opposing Congress. + +The radicals had plenty of campaign material in the testimony collected +by the Joint Committee, in the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in +the bloody race riots which had occurred in Memphis and New Orleans. The +greatest blunder of the Administration was Johnson's speechmaking tour +to the West which he called "Swinging Around the Circle." Every time he +made a speech he was heckled by persons in the crowd, lost his temper, +denounced Congress and the radical leaders, and conducted himself in an +undignified manner. The election returns showed more than a two-thirds +majority in each House against the President. The Fortieth Congress +would therefore be safely radical, and in consequence the Thirty-ninth +was encouraged to be more radical during its last session. + +Public interest now for a time turned to the South, where the Fourteenth +Amendment was before the state legislatures. The radicals, taunted with +having no plan of reconstruction beyond a desire to keep the Southern +States out of the Union, professed to see in the ratification of the +Fourteenth Amendment a good opportunity to readmit the States on a safe +basis. The elections of 1866 had pointed to the ratification of the +proposed amendment as an essential preliminary to readmission. But +would additional demands be made upon the South? Sumner, Stevens, and +Fessenden were sure that Negro suffrage also must come, but Wade, Chase, +Garfield, and others believed that nothing beyond the terms of the +Fourteenth Amendment would be asked. + +In the Southern legislatures there was little disposition to ratify the +amendment. The rapid development of the radical policies during 1866 had +convinced most Southerners that nothing short of a general humiliation +and complete revolution in the South would satisfy the dominant party, +and there were few who wished to be "parties to our own dishonor." The +President advised the States not to accept the amendment, but several +Southern leaders favored it, fearing that worse would come if they +should reject it. Only in the legislatures of Alabama and Florida was +there any serious disposition to accept the amendment; and in the end +all the unreconstructed States voted adversely during the fall and +winter of 1866-67. This unanimity of action was due in part to the +belief that, even if the amendment were ratified, the Southern states +would still be excluded, and in part to the general dislike of the +proscriptive section which would disfranchise all Confederates of +prominence and result in the breaking up of the state governments. +The example of unhappy Tennessee, which had ratified the Fourteenth +Amendment and had been readmitted, was not one to encourage conservative +people in the other Southern states. + +The rejection of the amendment put the question of reconstruction +squarely before Congress. There was no longer a possibility of +accomplishing the reconstruction of the Southern states by means of +constitutional amendments. Some of the Border and Northern states were +already showing signs of uneasiness at the continued exclusion of the +South. But if the Constitutional Amendment had failed, other means +of reconstruction were at hand, for the radicals now controlled the +Thirty-ninth Congress, from which the Southern representatives were +excluded, and would also control the Fortieth Congress. + +Under the lead of Stevens and Sumner, the radicals now perfected their +plans. On January 8,1867, their first measure, conferring the +franchise upon Negroes in the District of Columbia, was passed over the +presidential veto, though the proposal had been voted down a few +weeks earlier by a vote of 6525 to 35 in Washington and 812 to 1 in +Georgetown. In the next place, by an act of January 31, 1867, the +franchise was extended to Negroes in the territories, and on March 2, +1867, three important measures were enacted: the Tenure of Office Act +and a rider to the Army Appropriation Act--both designed to limit the +power of the President--and the first Reconstruction Act. By the Tenure +of Office Act, the President was prohibited from removing officeholders +except with the consent of the Senate; and by the Army Act he was +forbidden to issue orders except through General Grant or to relieve him +of command or to assign him to command away from Washington unless at +the General's own request or with the previous approval of the +Senate. The first measure was meant to check the removal of radical +officeholders by Johnson, and the other, which was secretly drawn up +for Boutwell by Stanton, was designed to prevent the President from +exercising his constitutional command of the army. + +The first Reconstruction Act declared that no legal state government +existed in the ten unreconstructed states and that there was no adequate +protection for life and property. The Johnson and Lincoln governments +in those States were declared to have no legal status and to be subject +wholly to the authority of the United States to modify or abolish. The +ten states were divided into five military districts, over each of which +a general officer was to be placed in command. Military tribunals were +to supersede the civil courts where necessary. Stevens was willing to +rest here, though some of his less radical followers, disliking military +rule but desiring to force Negro suffrage, inserted a provision in +the law that a State might be readmitted to representation upon the +following conditions: a constitutional convention must be held, the +members of which were elected by males of voting age without regard +to color, excluding whites who would be disfranchised by the proposed +Fourteenth Amendment; a constitution including the same rule of suffrage +must be framed, ratified by the same electorate, and approved by +Congress; and lastly, the legislatures elected under this constitution +must ratify the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, after which, if +the Fourteenth Amendment should have become a part of the Federal +Constitution, the State should be readmitted to representation. + +In order that the administration of this radical legislation might be +supervised by its friends, the Thirty-ninth Congress had passed a law +requiring the Fortieth Congress to meet on the 4th of March instead of +in December as was customary. According to the Reconstruction Act of the +2nd of March, it was left to the state government or to the people of a +state to make the first move towards reconstruction. If they preferred, +they might remain under military rule. Either by design or by +carelessness no machinery of administration was provided for the +execution of the act. When it became evident that the Southerners +preferred military rule, the new Congress passed a Supplementary +Reconstruction Act on the 23d of March designed to force the earlier act +into operation. The five commanding generals were directed to register +the blacks of voting age and the whites who were not disfranchised, +to hold elections for conventions, to call the conventions, to hold +elections to ratify or reject the constitutions, and to forward the +constitutions, if ratified, to the President for transmission to +Congress. + +In these reconstruction acts the whole doctrine of radicalism was put on +the way to accomplishment. Its spread had been rapid. In December 1865, +the majority of Congress would have accepted with little modification +the work of Lincoln and Johnson. Three months later the Civil Rights Act +measured the advance. Very soon the new Freedmen's Bureau Act and +the Fourteenth Amendment indicated the rising tide of radicalism. The +campaign of 1866 and the attitude of the Southern states swept all +radicals and most moderate Republicans swiftly into a merciless course +of reconstruction. Moderate reconstruction had nowhere strong support. +Congress, touched in its amour propre by presidential disregard, was +eager for extremes. Johnson, who regarded himself as defending the +Constitution against radical assaults, was stubborn, irascible, and +undignified, and with his associates was no match in political strategy +for his radical opponents. + +The average Republican or Unionist in the North, if he had not been +brought by skillful misrepresentation to believe a new rebellion +impending in the South, was at any rate painfully alive to the fear that +the Democratic party might regain power. With the freeing of the slaves, +the representation of the South in Congress would be increased. At first +it seemed that the South might divide in politics as before the war, but +the longer the delay the more the Southern whites tended to unite +into one party acting with the Democrats. With their eighty-five +representatives and a slight reaction in the North, they might gain +control of the lower House of Congress. The Union-Republican party had +a majority of less than one hundred in 1866, and this was lessened +slightly in the Fortieth Congress. The President was for all practical +purposes a Democrat again. The prospect was too much for the very human +politicians to view without distress. Stevens, speaking in support of +the Military Reconstruction Bill, said: + +"There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In +the first place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to Negro +suffrage in the rebel states. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a +right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second +place, it is necessary in order to protect the loyal white men in the +seceded states. With them the blacks would act in a body, and it is +believed that in each of these states, except one, the two united would +form a majority, control the states, and protect themselves. Now they +are the victims of daily murder. They must suffer constant persecution +or be exiled. Another good reason is that it would insure the ascendancy +of the union party.... I believe... that on the continued ascendancy +of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial +suffrage is excluded in the rebel states, then every one of them is +sure to send a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred +Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and control +Congress." + +The laws passed on the 2d and the 23d of March were war measures and +presupposed a continuance of war conditions. The Lincoln-Johnson state +governments were overturned; Congress fixed the qualifications of voters +for that time and for the future; and the President, shorn of much of +his constitutional power, could exercise but little control over +the military government. Nothing that a state might do would secure +restoration until it should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the +Federal Constitution. The war had been fought upon the theory that the +old Union must be preserved; but the basic theory of the reconstruction +was that a new Union was to be created. + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE RULE OF THE MAJOR GENERALS + +From the passage of the reconstruction acts to the close of Johnson's +Administration, Congress, working the will of the radical majority, was +in supreme control. The army carried out the will of Congress and +to that body, not to the President, the commanding general and his +subordinates looked for direction. + +The official opposition of the President to the policy of Congress +ceased when that policy was enacted into law. He believed this +legislation to be unconstitutional, but he considered it his duty to +execute the laws. He at once set about the appointment of generals to +command the military districts created in the South,* a task calling for +no little discretion, since much depended upon the character of these +military governors, or "satraps," as they were frequently called by the +opposition. The commanding general in a district was charged with many +duties, military, political, and administrative. It was his duty +to carry on a government satisfactory to the radicals and not too +irritating to the Southern whites; at the same time he must execute the +reconstruction acts by putting old leaders out of power and Negroes +in. Violent opposition to this policy on the part of the South was not +looked for. Notwithstanding the "Southern outrage" campaign, it was +generally recognized in government circles that conditions in the +seceded states had gradually been growing better since the close of +the war. There was in many regions, to be sure, a general laxity in +enforcing laws, but that had always been characteristic of the newer +parts of the South. The Civil Rights Act was generally in force, +the "Black Laws" had been suspended, and the Freedmen's Bureau was +everywhere caring for the Negroes. What disorder existed was of recent +origin and in the main was due to the unsettling effects of the debates +in Congress and to the organization of the Negroes for political +purposes. + + * The first five generals appointed were Schofield, Sickles. + Pope, Ord, and Sheridan. None of these remained in his + district until reconstruction was completed. To Schofield's + command in the first district succeeded in turn Stoneman, + Webb, and Canby; Sickles gave way to Canby, and Pope to + Meade; Ord in the fourth district was followed by Gillem, + McDowell, and Ames; Sheridan, in the fifth, was succeeded by + Griffen, Mower, Hancock, Buchanan, Reynolds, and Canby. Some + of the generals were radical; others, moderate and tactful. + The most extreme were Sheridan, Pope, and Sickles. Those + most acceptable to the whites were Hancock, Schofield, and + Meade. General Grant himself became more radical in his + actions as he became involved in the fight between Congress + and the President. + + +Military rule was established in the South with slight friction, but it +was soon found that the reconstruction laws were not sufficiently clear +on two points: first, whether there was any limit to the authority +of the five generals over the local and state governments and, if so, +whether the limiting authority was in the President; and second, whether +the disfranchising provisions in the laws were punitive and hence to +be construed strictly. Attorney-General Stanbery, in May and June +1867, drew up opinions in which he maintained that the laws were to +be considered punitive and therefore to be construed strictly. After +discussions in cabinet meetings, these opinions received the approval of +all except Stanton, Secretary of War, who had already joined the radical +camp. The Attorney-General's opinion was sent out to the district +commanders for their information and guidance. But Congress did not +intend to permit the President or his Cabinet to direct the process +of reconstruction, and in the Act of July 19, 1867, it gave a radical +interpretation to the reconstruction legislation, declared itself in +control, gave full power to General Grant and to the district commanders +subject only to Grant, directed the removal of all local officials who +opposed the reconstruction policies, and warned the civil and military +officers of the United States that none of them should "be bound in his +action by any opinion of any civil officer of the United States." This +interpretive legislation gave a broad basis for the military government +and resulted in a severe application of the disfranchising provisions of +the laws. + +The rule of the five generals lasted in all the States until June 1868, +and continued in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and Georgia until 1870. +There had been, to be sure, some military government in 1865, subject, +however, to the President, and from 1865 to 1867 the army, along with +the Freedmen's Bureau, had exerted a strong influence in the government +of the South, but in the regime now inaugurated the military was +supreme. The generals had a superior at Washington, but whether it was +the President, General Grant, or Congress was not clear until the Act of +July 19, 1867 made Congress the source of authority. + +The power of the generals most strikingly appeared in their control of +the state governments which were continued as provisional organizations. +Since no elections were permitted, all appointments and removals were +made from military headquarters, which soon became political beehives, +centers of wirepulling and agencies for the distribution of spoils. At +the outset civil officers were ordered to retain their offices during +good behavior, subject to military control. But no local official was +permitted to use his influence ever so slightly against reconstruction. +Since most of them did not favor the policy of Congress, thousands were +removed as "obstacles to reconstruction." The Governors of Georgia, +Louisiana, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas were displaced and others +appointed in their stead. All kinds of subordinate offices rapidly +became vacant. New appointments were nearly always carpetbaggers +and native radicals who could take the "ironclad" oath. The generals +complained that there were not enough competent native "loyalists" +to fill the offices, and frequently an army officer was installed as +governor, treasurer, secretary of state, auditor, or mayor. In nearly +all towns, the police force was reorganized, and former Federal soldiers +were added to the force, while the regular troops were used for general +police purposes and for rural constabulary. + +Over the administration of justice the military authorities exercised a +close supervision. Instructions were sent out to court officers covering +the selection of juries, the suspension of certain laws, and the rules +of evidence and procedure. Courts were often closed, court decrees set +aside or modified, prisoners released, and many cases reserved for trial +by military commission. Some commanders required juries to admit Negro +members and insisted that all jurors take the "ironclad" test oath. +There was some attempt at regulating the Federal courts but without much +success. + +Since the state legislatures were forbidden to meet, much legislation +was enacted through military orders. Stay laws were enacted, the color +line was abolished, new criminal regulations were promulgated, and the +police power was invoked in some instances to justify sweeping measures, +such as the prohibition of whisky manufacture in North Carolina and +South Carolina. The military governors levied, increased, or decreased +taxes and made appropriations which the state treasurers were forced to +pay, but they restrained the radical conventions, all of which wished to +spend much money. According to the Act of March 23, 1867, the generals +and their appointees were to be paid by the United States, but in +practice the running expenses of reconstruction were paid by the state +treasurers. + +Any attempt to favor the Confederate soldiers was frowned upon. Laws +providing wooden legs and free education for crippled Confederates were +suspended. Militia organizations and military schools were forbidden. +No uniform might be worn, no parades were permitted, no memorial and +historical societies were to be organized, and no meeting of any +kind could be held without a permit. The attempt to control the press +resulted in what one general called "a horrible uproar." Editors were +forbidden to express themselves too strongly against reconstruction; +public advertising and printing were awarded only to those papers +actively supporting reconstruction. Several newspapers were suppressed, +a notable example being the "Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor", whose +editor, Ryland Randolph, was a picturesque figure in Alabama journalism +and a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. + +The military administration was thorough and, as a whole, honest +and efficient. With fewer than ten thousand soldiers, the generals +maintained order and carried on the reconstruction of the South. The +whites made no attempt at resistance, though they were irritated +by military rule and resented the loss of self-government. But most +Southerners preferred the rule of the army to the alternative reign +of the carpetbagger, scalawag, and Negro. The extreme radicals at the +North, on the other hand, were disgusted at the conservative policy of +the generals. The apathy of the whites at the beginning of the military +reconstruction excited surprise on all sides. Not only was there no +violent opposition, but for a few weeks there was no opposition at all. +The civil officials were openly unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced +dissent not untouched with disgust; others simply could not take the +situation seriously because it seemed so absurd; many leaders were +indifferent, while others among them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and +Longstreet, and Governor Patton--without approving the policy, advised +the whites to cooperate with the military authorities and save all they +could out of the situation. General Beauregard, for instance, wrote in +1867: "If the suffrage of the Negro is properly handled and directed, +we shall defeat our adversaries with their own weapons. The Negro is +Southern born. With education and property qualifications he can be made +to take an interest in the affairs of the South and in its prosperity. +He will side with the whites." + +Northern observers who were friendly to the South or who disapproved +of this radical reconstruction saw the danger more clearly than +the Southerners themselves, who seemed not to appreciate the full +implication of the situation. In this connection the New York "Herald" +remarked: + +"We may regard the entire ten unreconstructed Southern States, with +possibly one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming +revolutionary influence to a common and inevitable fate. They are all +bound to be governed by blacks spurred on by worse than blacks--white +wretches who dare not show their faces in respectable society anywhere. +This is the most abominable phase barbarism has assumed since the dawn +of civilization. It was all right and proper to put down the rebellion. +It was all right perhaps to emancipate the slaves.... But it is not +right to make slaves of white men even though they may have been former +masters of blacks. This is but a change in a system of bondage that is +rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has been inaugurated +in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age." + +The political parties rapidly grouped themselves for the coming +struggle. The radical Republican party indeed was in process of +organization in the South even before the passage of the reconstruction +acts. Its membership was made up of Negroes, carpetbaggers, or Northern +men who had come in as speculators, officers of the Freedmen's Bureau +and of the army, scalawags or Confederate renegades, "Peace Society" +men,* and Unionists of Civil War times, with a few old Whigs who could +not yet bring themselves to affiliate with the Democrats. At first it +seemed that a respectable number of whites might be secured for the +radical party, but the rapid organization of the Negroes checked the +accession of whites. In the winter and spring of 1866-67, the Negroes +near the towns were well organized by the Union League and the +Freedmen's Bureau and then, after the passage of the reconstruction +acts, the organizing activities of the radical chieftains shifted to +the rural districts. The Union League was greatly extended; Union League +conventions were held to which local whites were not admitted; and +the formation of a black man's party was well on the way before the +registration of the voters was completed. Visiting statesmen from the +North, among them Henry Wilson of Massachusetts and "Pig Iron" Kelley +of Pennsylvania, toured the South in support of the radical program, and +the registrars and all Federal officials aided in the work. + + * See "The Day of the Confederacy", by Nathaniel W. + Stephenson (in "The Chronicles of America"), p. 121, + footnote. + + +The whites, slow to comprehend the real extent of radicalism, were +finally aroused to the necessity of organizing, if they were to +influence the Negro and have a voice in the conventions. The old party +divisions were still evident. With difficulty a portion of the Whigs was +brought with the Democrats into one conservative party during the summer +and fall of 1867, though many still held aloof. The lack of the old +skilled leadership was severely felt. In places where the white man's +party was given a name, it was called "Democratic and Conservative," to +spare the feelings of former Whigs who were loath to bear the party name +of their quondam opponents. + +The first step in the military reconstruction was the registration of +voters. In each State a central board of registrars was appointed by the +district commander and a local board for every county and large town. +Each board consisted of three members--all radicals--who were required +to subscribe to the "ironclad" oath. In several states one Negro was +appointed to each local board. The registrars listed Negro voters during +the day, and at night worked at the organization of a radical Republican +party. The prospective voters were required to take the oath prescribed +in the Reconstruction Act, but the registrars were empowered to +go behind the oath and investigate the Confederate record of each +applicant. This authority was invoked to carry the disfranchisement of +the whites far beyond the intention of the law in an attempt to destroy +the leadership of the whites and to register enough Negroes to outvote +them at the polls. For this purpose the registration was continued until +October 1, 1867, and an active campaign of education and organization +carried on. + +At the close of the registration, 703,000 black voters were on the rolls +and 627,000 whites. In Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and +Mississippi there were black majorities, and in the other States the +blacks and the radical whites together formed majorities. The white +minorities included several thousand who had been rejected by the +registrars but restored by the military commanders. Though large +numbers of blacks were dropped from the revised rolls as fraudulently +registered, the registration statistics, nevertheless, bore clear +witness to the political purpose of those who compiled them. + +Next followed a vote on the question of holding a state convention +and the election of delegates to such a convention if held--a double +election. The whites, who had been harassed in the registration and who +feared race conflicts at the elections, considered whether they ought +not to abstain from voting. By staying away from the polls, they might +bring the vote cast in each State below a majority and thus defeat the +proposed conventions for, unless a majority of the registered voters +actually cast ballots either for or against a convention, no convention +could be held. Nowhere, however, was this plan of not voting fully +carried out, for, though most whites abstained, enough of them voted +(against the conventions, of course) to make the necessary majority in +each State. The effect of the abstention policy upon the personnel of +the conventions was unfortunate. In every convention there was a radical +majority with a conservative and all but negligible minority. In South +Carolina and Louisiana, there were Negro majorities. In every State +except North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, the Negroes and the +carpetbaggers together were in the majority over native whites. + +The conservative whites were of fair ability; the carpetbaggers and +scalawags produced in each convention a few able leaders, but most +of them were conscienceless political soldiers of fortune; the Negro +members were inexperienced, and most of them were quite ignorant, though +a few leaders of ability did appear among them. In Alabama, for example, +only two Negro members could write, though half had been taught to sign +their names. They were barbers, field hands, hack drivers, and servants. +A Negro chaplain was elected who invoked divine blessings on "unioners +and cusses on rebels." It was a sign of the new era when the convention +specially invited the "ladies of colored members" to seats in the +gallery. + +The work of the conventions was for the most part cut and dried, the +abler members having reached a general agreement before they met. The +constitutions, mosaics of those of other states, were noteworthy only +for the provisions made to keep the whites out of power and to regulate +the relations of the races in social matters. The Texas constitution +alone contained no proscriptive clauses beyond those required by +the Fourteenth Amendment. The most thoroughgoing proscription of +Confederates was found in the constitutions of Mississippi, Alabama, and +Virginia; and in these states the voter must also purge himself of guilt +by agreeing to accept the "civil and political equality of all men" or +by supporting reconstruction. Only in South Carolina and Louisiana were +race lines abolished by law. + +The legislative work of the conventions was more interesting than the +constitution making. By ordinance the legality of Negro marriages was +dated from November 1867, or some date later than had been fixed by the +white conventions of 1865. Mixed schools were provided in some States; +militia for the black districts but not for the white was to be raised; +while in South Carolina it was made a penal offense to call a person a +"Yankee" or a "nigger." Few of the Negro delegates demanded proscription +of whites or social equality; they wanted schools and the vote. The +white radicals were more anxious to keep the former Confederates from +holding office than from voting. The generals in command everywhere used +their influence to secure moderate action by the conventions, and for +this they were showered with abuse. + +As provided by the reconstruction acts, the new constitutions were +submitted to the electorate created by those instruments. Unless a +majority of the registered voters in a State should take part in the +election, the reconstruction would fail and the State would remain under +military rule. The whites now inaugurated a more systematic policy of +abstention and in Alabama, on February 4, 1868, succeeded in holding +the total vote below a majority. Congress then rushed to the rescue of +radicalism with the act of the 11th of March, which provided that a +mere majority of those voting in the State was sufficient to inaugurate +reconstruction. Arkansas had followed the lead of Alabama, but too late; +in Mississippi the constitution was defeated by a majority vote; in +Texas the convention had made no provision for a vote; and in Virginia +the commanding general, disapproving of the work of the convention, +refused to pay the expenses of an election. In the other six States the +constitutions were adopted.* + + * Except in Texas, the work of constitution making was + completed between November 5, 1867, and May 18, 1868. + +These elections gave rise to more violent contests than before. They +also were double elections, as the voters cast ballots for state and +local officials and at the same time for or against the constitution. +The radical nominations were made by the Union League and the Freedmen's +Bureau, and nearly all radicals who had been members of conventions were +nominated and elected to office. The Negroes, expecting now to reap some +benefits of reconstruction, frequently brought sacks to the polls to +"put the franchise in." The elections were all over by June 1868, +and the newly elected legislatures promptly ratified the Fourteenth +Amendment. + +It now remained for Congress to approve the work done in the South +and to readmit the reorganized states. The case of Alabama gave some +trouble. Even Stevens, for a time, thought that this state should stay +out; but there was danger in delay. The success of the abstention +policy in Alabama and Arkansas and the reviving interest of the whites +foreshadowed white majorities in some places; the scalawags began +to forsake the radical party for the conservatives; and there were +Democratic gains in the North in 1867. Only six states, New York and +five New England States, allowed the Negro to vote, while four states, +Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and Ohio, voted down Negro suffrage after +the passage of the reconstruction acts. The ascendancy of the radicals +in Congress was menaced. The radicals needed the support of their +radical brethren in Southern States and they could not afford to wait +for the Fourteenth Amendment to become a part of the Constitution or +to tolerate other delay. On the 22d and the 25th of June, acts +were therefore passed admitting seven states, Alabama included, to +representation in Congress upon the "fundamental condition" that "the +constitutions of neither of said States shall ever be so amended or +changed as to deprive any citizens or class of citizens of the United +States of the right to vote in said State, who are entitled to vote by +the constitution thereof herein recognized." + +The generals now turned over the government to the recently +elected radical officials and retired into the background. Military +reconstruction was thus accomplished in all the States except Virginia, +Mississippi, and Texas. + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE TRIAL OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON + +While the radical program was being executed in the South, Congress +was engaged not only in supervising reconstruction but in subduing the +Supreme Court and in "conquering" President Johnson. One must admire the +efficiency of the radical machine. When the Southerners showed that they +preferred military rule as permitted by the Act of the 2nd of +March, Congress passed the Act of the 23d of March which forced the +reconstruction. When the President ventured to assert his power in +behalf of a considerate administration of the reconstruction acts, +Congress took the power out of his hands by the law of the 19th of July. +The Southern plan to defeat the new state constitutions by abstention +was no sooner made clear in the case of Alabama than Congress came to +the rescue with the Act of March 11, 1868. + +Had it seemed necessary, Congress would have handled the Supreme Court +as it did the Southerners. The opponents of radical reconstruction were +anxious to get the reconstruction laws of March 1867, before the Court. +Chief Justice Chase was known to be opposed to military reconstruction, +and four other justices were, it was believed, doubtful of the +constitutionality of the laws. A series of conservative decisions gave +hope to those who looked to the Court for relief. The first decision, in +the case of ex parte Milligan, declared unconstitutional the trials of +civilians by military commissions when civil courts were open. A +few months later, in the cases of Cummings vs. Missouri and ex parte +Garland, the Court declared invalid, because ex post facto, the state +laws designed to punish former Confederates. + +But the first attempts to get the reconstruction acts before the Supreme +Court failed. The State of Mississippi, in April 1867, brought suit to +restrain the President from executing the reconstruction acts. The Court +refused to interfere with the executive. A similar suit was then brought +against Secretary Stanton by Georgia with a like result. But in 1868, +in the case of ex parte McCardle, it appeared that the question of +the constitutionality of the reconstruction acts would be passed upon. +McCardle, a Mississippi editor arrested for opposition to reconstruction +and convicted by military commission, appealed to the Supreme Court, +which asserted its jurisdiction. But the radicals in alarm rushed +through Congress an act (March 27, 1868) which took away from the Court +its jurisdiction in cases arising under the reconstruction acts. The +highest court was thus silenced. + +The attempt to remove the President from office was the only part of +the radical program that failed, and this by the narrowest of margins. +During the spring and summer of 1866, there was some talk among +politicians of impeaching President Johnson, and in December a +resolution was introduced by Representative Ashley of Ohio looking +toward impeachment. Though the committee charged with the investigation +of "the official conduct of Andrew Johnson" reported that enough +testimony had been taken to justify further inquiry, the House took no +action. There were no less than five attempts at impeachment during the +next year. Stevens, Butler, and others were anxious to get the President +out of the way, but the majority were as yet unwilling to impeach for +merely political reasons. There were some who thought that the radicals +had sufficient majorities to ensure all needed legislation and did not +relish the thought of Ben Wade in the presidency.* Others considered +that no just grounds for action had been found in the several +investigations of Johnson's record. Besides, the President's authority +and influence had been much curtailed by the legislation relating to the +Freedmen's Bureau, tenure of office, reconstruction, and command of +the army, and Congress had also refused to recognize his amnesty and +pardoning powers. + + * Senator Wade of Ohio was President pro tempore of the + Senate and by the act of 1791 would succeed President + Johnson if he were removed from office. + +But the desire to impeach the President was increasing in power, and +very little was needed to provoke a trial of strength between the +radicals and the President. The drift toward impeachment was due in +part to the legislative reaction against the executive, and in part +to Johnson's own opposition to reconstruction and to his use of the +patronage against the radicals. Specific grievances were found in +his vetoes of the various reconstruction bills, in his criticisms of +Congress and the radical leaders, and in the fact, as Stevens asserted, +that he was a "radical renegade." Johnson was a Southern man, an +old-line State Rights Democrat, somewhat anti-Negro in feeling. He knew +no book except the Constitution, and that he loved with all his soul. +Sure of the correctness of his position, he was too stubborn to change +or to compromise. He was no more to be moved than Stevens or Sumner. To +overcome Johnson's vetoes required two-thirds of each House of Congress; +to impeach and remove him would require only a majority of the House and +two-thirds of the Senate. + +The desired occasion for impeachment was furnished by Johnson's attempt +to get Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, out of the Cabinet. +Stanton held radical views and was at no time sympathetic with or loyal +to Johnson, but he loved office too well to resign along with those +cabinet members who could not follow the President in his struggle +with Congress. He was seldom frank and sincere in his dealings with +the President, and kept up an underhand correspondence with the +radical leaders, even assisting in framing some of the reconstruction +legislation which was designed to render Johnson powerless. In him the +radicals had a representative within the President's Cabinet. + + +Wearied of Stanton's disloyalty, Johnson asked him to resign and, upon +a refusal, suspended him in August 1867, and placed General Grant in +temporary charge of the War Department. General Grant, Chief Justice +Chase, and Secretary McCulloch, though they all disliked Stanton, +advised the President against suspending him. But Johnson was +determined. About the same time he exercised his power in removing +Sheridan and Sickles from their commands in the South and replaced +them with Hancock and Canby. The radicals were furious, but Johnson had +secured at least the support of a loyal Cabinet. + +The suspension of Stanton was reported to the Senate in December +1867, and on January 13, 1868, the Senate voted not to concur in the +President's action. Upon receiving notice of the vote in the Senate, +Grant at once left the War Department and Stanton again took possession. +Johnson now charged Grant with failing to keep a promise either to hold +on himself or to make it possible to appoint some one else who would +hold on until the matter might be brought into the courts. The President +by this accusation angered Grant and threw him with his great influence +into the arms of the radicals. Against the advice of his leading +counselors, Johnson persisted in his intention to keep Stanton out of +the Cabinet. Accordingly on the 21st of February he dismissed Stanton +from office and appointed Lorenzo Thomas, the Adjutant General, as +acting Secretary of War. Stanton, advised by the radicals in Congress to +"stick," refused to yield possession to Thomas and had him arrested for +violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The matter now was in the courts +where Johnson wanted it, but the radical leaders, fearing that the +courts would decide against Stanton and the reconstruction acts, had the +charges against Thomas withdrawn. Thus failed the last attempt to get +the reconstruction laws before the courts. On the 22nd of February, the +President sent to the Senate the name of Thomas Ewing, General Sherman's +father-in-law, as Secretary of War, but no attention was paid to the +nomination. + +On February 24, 1868, the House voted, 128 to 47, to impeach the +President "of high crimes and misdemeanors in office." The Senate +was formally notified the next day, and on the 4th of March the seven +managers selected by the House appeared before the Senate with the +eleven articles of impeachment. At first it seemed to the public that +the impeachment proceedings were merely the culmination of a struggle +for the control of the army. There were rumors that Johnson had plans to +use the army against Congress and against reconstruction. General +Grant, directed by Johnson to accept orders from Stanton only if he were +satisfied that they came from the President, refused to follow these +instructions. Stanton, professing to fear violence, barricaded himself +in the War Department and was furnished with a guard of soldiers +by General Grant, who from this time used his influence in favor of +impeachment. Excited by the most sensational rumors, some people even +believed a new rebellion to be imminent. + +The impeachment was rushed to trial by the House managers and was not +ended until the decision was taken by the votes of the 16th and 26th of +May. The eleven articles of impeachment consisted of summaries of all +that had been charged against Johnson, except the charge that he had +been an accomplice in the murder of Lincoln. The only one which had any +real basis was the first, which asserted that he had violated the Tenure +of Office Act in trying to remove Stanton. The other articles were +merely expansions of the first or were based upon Johnson's opposition +to reconstruction or upon his speeches in criticism of Congress. Nothing +could be said about his control of the patronage, though this was one of +the unwritten charges. J. W. Schuckers, in his life of Chase, says +that the radical leaders "felt the vast importance of the presidential +patronage; many of them felt, too, that, according to the maxim that +to the victors belong the spoils, the Republican party was rightfully +entitled to the Federal patronage, and they determined to get possession +of it. There was but one method and that was by impeachment and removal +of the President." + +The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell, +all better known as politicians than as lawyers. The President was +represented by an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson, +and Groesbeck. Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the +President but withdrew under conditions not entirely creditable to +himself. + +The trial was a one-sided affair. The President's counsel were refused +more than six days for the preparation of the case. Chief Justice Chase, +who presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a +judicial and not a political body, and he accordingly ruled that only +legal evidence should be admitted; but the Senate majority preferred +to assume that they were settling a political question. Much evidence +favorable to the President was excluded, but everything else was +admitted. As the trial went on, the country began to understand that the +impeachment was a mistake. Few people wanted to see Senator Wade made +President. The partisan attitude of the Senate majority and the weakness +of the case against Johnson had much to do in moderating public opinion, +and the timely nomination of General Schofield as Secretary of War after +Stanton's resignation reassured those who feared that the army might be +placed under some extreme Democrat. + +As the time drew near for the decision, every possible pressure was +brought by the radicals to induce senators to vote for conviction. To +convict the President, thirty-six votes were necessary. There were only +twelve Democrats in the Senate, but all were known to be in favor of +acquittal. When the test came on the 16th of May, seven Republicans +voted with the Democrats for acquittal on the eleventh article. Another +vote on the 26th of May, on the first and second articles, showed that +conviction was not possible. The radical legislative reaction was +thus checked at its highest point and the presidency as a part of +the American governmental system was no longer in danger. The seven +Republicans had, however, signed their own political death warrants; +they were never forgiven by the party leaders. + +The presidential campaign was beginning to take shape even before +the impeachment trial began. Both the Democrats and the reorganized +Republicans were turning with longing toward General Grant as a +candidate. Though he had always been a Democrat, Nevertheless, when +Johnson actually called him a liar and a promise breaker, Grant went +over to the radicals and was nominated for President on May 20, 1868, by +the National Union Republican party. Schuyler Colfax was the candidate +for Vice President. The Democrats, who could have won with Grant and who +under good leadership still had a bare chance to win, nominated Horatio +Seymour of New York and Francis P. Blair of Missouri. The former had +served as war governor of New York, while the latter was considered an +extreme Democrat who believed that the radical reconstruction of the +South should be stopped, the troops withdrawn, and the people left to +form their own governments. The Democratic platform pronounced itself +opposed to the reconstruction policy, but Blair's opposition was too +extreme for the North. Seymour, more moderate and a skillful campaigner, +made headway in the rehabilitation of the Democratic party. The +Republican party declared for radical reconstruction and Negro suffrage +in the South but held that each Northern State should be allowed to +settle the suffrage for itself. It was not a courageous platform, but +Grant was popular and carried his party through to success. + +The returns showed that in the election Grant had carried twenty-six +States with 214 electoral votes, while Seymour had carried only eight +States with 80 votes. But an examination of the popular vote, which was +3,000,000 for Grant and 2,700,000 for Seymour, gave the radicals cause +for alarm, for it showed that the Democrats had more white votes than +the Republicans, whose total included nearly 700,000 blacks. To insure +the continuance of the radicals in power, the Fifteenth Amendment was +framed and sent out to the States on February 26, 1869. This amendment +appeared not only to make safe the Negro majorities in the South but +also gave the ballot to the Negroes in a score of Northern States +and thus assured, for a time at least, 900,000 Negro voters for the +Republican party. + +When Johnson's term ended and he gave place to President Grant, four +states were still unreconstructed--Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, +in which the reconstruction had failed, and Georgia, which, after +accomplishing reconstruction, had again been placed under military rule +by Congress. In Virginia, which was too near the capital for such +rough work as readmitted Arkansas and Alabama into the Union, the new +constitution was so severe in its provisions for disfranchisement that +the disgusted district commander would not authorize the expenditure +necessary to have it voted on. In Mississippi a similar constitution had +failed of adoption, and in Texas the strife of party factions, radical +and moderate Republican, had so delayed the framing of the constitution +that it had not come to a vote. + +The Republican politicians, however, wanted the offices in these States, +and Congress by its resolution of February 18, 1869, directed the +district commanders to remove all civil officers who could not take +the "ironclad" oath and to appoint those who could subscribe to it. An +exception, however, was made in favor of the scalawags who had supported +reconstruction and whose disabilities had been removed by Congress. + +President Grant was anxious to complete the reconstruction and +recommended to Congress that the constitutions of Virginia and +Mississippi be re-submitted to the people with a separate vote on the +disfranchising sections. Congress, now in harmony with the executive, +responded by placing the reconstruction of the three states in the hands +of the President, but with the proviso that each state must ratify the +Fifteenth Amendment. Grant thereupon fixed a time for voting in each +state and directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the disfranchising +clauses be submitted separately. As a result, the constitutions were +ratified but proscription was voted down. The radicals secured control +of Mississippi and Texas, but a conservative combination carried +Virginia and thus came near keeping the state out of the Union. Finally, +during the early months of 1870 the three states were readmitted. + +With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed. In June +1868, Georgia had been readmitted with the first of the reconstructed +States. The state legislature at once expelled the twenty-seven Negro +members, on the ground that the recent legislation and the state +constitution gave the Negroes the right to vote but not to hold office. +Congress, which had already admitted the Georgia representatives, +refused to receive the senators and turned the state back to military +control. In 1869-70, Georgia was again reconstructed after a drastic +purging of the legislature by the military commander, the reseating +of the Negro members, and the ratification of both the Fourteenth and +Fifteenth Amendments. The state was readmitted to representation in July +1870, after the failure of a strong effort to extend for two years the +carpetbag government of the state. + +Upon the last states to pass under the radical yoke, heavier conditions +were imposed than upon the earlier ones. Not only were they required +to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, but the "fundamental conditions" +embraced, in addition to the prohibition against future change of the +suffrage, a requirement that the Negroes should never be deprived of +school and office-holding rights. + +The congressional plan of reconstruction had thus been carried through +by able leaders in the face of the opposition of a united white South, +nearly half the North, the President, the Supreme Court, and in the +beginning a majority of Congress. This success was due to the poor +leadership of the conservatives and to the ability and solidarity of the +radicals led by Stevens and Sumner. The radicals had a definite program; +the moderates had not. The object of the radicals was to secure the +supremacy in the South by the aid of the Negroes and exclusion of +whites. Was this policy politically wise? It was at least temporarily +successful. The choice offered by the radicals seemed to lie between +military rule for an indefinite period and Negro suffrage; and since +most Americans found military rule distasteful, they preferred to try +Negro suffrage. But, after all, Negro suffrage had to be supported by +military rule, and in the end both failed completely. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE UNION LEAGUE OF AMERICA + +The elections of 1867-68 showed that the Negroes were well organized +under the control of the radical Republican leaders and that their +former masters had none of the influence over the blacks in political +matters which had been feared by some Northern friends of the Negro +and had been hoped for by such Southern leaders as Governor Patton and +General Hampton. Before 1865 the discipline of slavery, the influence of +the master's family, and of the Southern church had sufficed to control +the blacks. But after emancipation they looked to the Federal soldiers +and Union officials as the givers of freedom and the guardians of the +future. + +From the Union soldiers, especially the Negro troops, from the Northern +teachers, the missionaries and the organizers of Negro churches, from +the Northern officials and traveling politicians, the Negroes learned +that their interests were not those of the whites. The attitude of the +average white in the South often confirmed this growing estrangement. It +was difficult even for the white leaders to explain the riots at Memphis +and New Orleans. And those who sincerely wished well for the Negro and +who desired to control him for the good of both races could not possibly +assure him that he was fit for the suffrage. For even Patton and Hampton +must tell him that they knew better than he and that he should follow +their advice. + +The appeal made to freedmen by the Northern leaders was in every way +more forceful, because it bad behind it the prestige of victory in war +and for the future it could promise anything. Until 1867, the principal +agency in bringing about the separation of the races had been the +Freedmen's Bureau which, with its authority, its courts, its rations, +clothes, and its "forty acres and a mule," did effective work in +breaking down the influence of the master. But to understand fully the +almost absolute control exercised over the blacks in 1867-68 by alien +adventurers, one must examine the workings of an oath-bound society +known as the Union or Loyal League. It was this order, dominated by a +few radical whites, which organized, disciplined, and controlled the +ignorant Negro masses and paralyzed the influence of the conservative +whites. + +The Union League of America had its origin in Ohio in the fall of 1862, +when the outlook for the Union cause was gloomy. The moderate policies +of the Lincoln Administration had alienated those in favor of extreme +measures; the Confederates had won military successes in the field; the +Democrats had made some gains in the elections; the Copperheads* were +actively opposed to the Washington Government; the Knights of the Golden +Circle were organizing to resist the continuance of the war; and the +Emancipation Proclamation had chilled the loyalty of many Union men, +which was everywhere at a low ebb, especially in the Northern cities. +It was to counteract these depressing influences that the Union League +movement was begun among those who were associated in the work of the +United States Sanitary Commission. Observing the threatening state of +public opinion, members of this organization proposed that "loyalty be +organized, consolidated and made effective." + + * See "Abraham Lincoln and the Union", by Nathaniel W. + Stephenson (in "The Chronicles of America"), pp. 156-7, + 234-5 + + +The first organization was made by eleven men in Cleveland, Ohio, in +November 1862. The Philadelphia Union League was organized a month +later, and in January 1863, the New York Union League followed. The +members were pledged to uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to the +Union, to complete subordination of political views to this loyalty, and +to the repudiation of any belief in state rights. The other large cities +followed the example of Philadelphia and New York, and soon Leagues, +connected in a loose federation, were formed all through the North. They +were social as well as political in their character and assumed as their +task the stimulation and direction of loyal Union opinion. + +As the Union armies proceeded to occupy the South, the Union League sent +its agents among the disaffected Southern people. Its agents cared for +Negro refugees in the contraband camps and in the North. In such work +the League cooperated with the various Freedmen's Aid Societies, the +Department of Negro Affairs, and later with the Freedmen's Bureau. Part +of the work of the League was to distribute campaign literature, and +many of the radical pamphlets on reconstruction and the Negro problem +bore the Union League imprint. The New York League sent out about +seventy thousand copies of various publications, while the Philadelphia +League far surpassed this record, circulating within eight years four +million five hundred thousand copies of 144 different pamphlets. The +literature consisted largely of accounts of "Southern outrages" taken +from the reports of Bureau agents and similar sources. + +With the close of the Civil War the League did not cease its active +interest in things political. It was one of the first organizations to +declare for Negro suffrage and the disfranchisement of Confederates; it +held steadily to this declaration during the four years following the +war; and it continued as a sort of bureau in the radical Republican +party for the purpose of controlling the Negro vote in the South. Its +representatives were found in the lobbies of Congress demanding extreme +measures, endorsing the reconstruction policies of Congress, and +condemning the course of the President. After the first year or two of +reconstruction, the Leagues in the larger Northern cities began to grow +away from the strictly political Union League of America and tended to +become mere social clubs for members of the same political belief. The +eminently respectable Philadelphia and New York clubs had little in +common with the leagues of the Southern and Border States except a +general adherence to the radical program. + +Even before the end of the war the League was extending its organization +into the parts of the Confederacy held by the Federal forces, admitting +to membership the army officers and the leading Unionists, though +maintaining for the sake of the latter "a discreet secrecy." With the +close of the war and the establishment of army posts over the South, +the League grew rapidly. The civilians who followed the army, the Bureau +agents, the missionaries, and the Northern teachers formed one class of +membership; and the loyalists of the hill and mountain country, who had +become disaffected toward the Confederate administration and had formed +such orders as the Heroes of America, the Red String Band, and the +Peace Society, formed another class. Soon there were added to these the +deserters, a few old line Whigs who intensely disliked the Democrats, +and others who decided to cast their lot with the victors. The +disaffected politicians of the up-country, who wanted to be cared for in +the reconstruction, saw in the organization a means of dislodging from +power the political leaders of the low country. It has been estimated +that thirty percent of the white men of the hill and mountain counties +of the South joined the Union League in 1865-66. They cared little about +the original objects of the order but hoped to make it the nucleus of an +anti-Democratic political organization. + +But on the admission of Negroes into the lodges or councils controlled +by Northern men the native white members began to withdraw. From the +beginning the Bureau agents, the teachers, and the preachers had been +holding meetings of Negroes, to whom they gave advice about the +problems of freedom. Very early these advisers of the blacks grasped the +possibilities inherent in their control of the schools, the rationing +system, and the churches. By the spring of 1866, the Negroes were widely +organized under this leadership, and it needed but slight change to +convert the Negro meetings into local councils of the Union League.* As +soon as it seemed likely that Congress would win in its struggle with +the President the guardians of the Negro planned their campaign for the +control of the race. Negro leaders were organized into councils of +the League or into Union Republican Clubs. Over the South went the +organizers, until by 1868 the last Negroes were gathered into the fold. + + * Of these teachers of the local blacks, E. L. Godkin, + editor of the New York Nation, who had supported the + reconstruction acts, said: "Worse instructors for men + emerging from slavery and coming for the first time face to + face with the problems of free life than the radical + agitators who have undertaken the political guidance of the + blacks it would be hard to meet with." + + +The native whites did not all desert the Union League when the Negroes +were brought in. Where the blacks were most numerous the desertion of +whites was general, but in the regions where they were few some of +the whites remained for several years. The elections of 1868 showed a +falling off of the white radical vote from that of 1867, one measure of +the extent of loss of whites. From this time forward the order consisted +mainly of blacks with enough whites for leaders. In the Black Belt the +membership of native whites was discouraged by requiring an oath to the +effect that secession was treason. The carpetbagger had found that he +could control the Negro without the help of the scalawag. The League +organization was soon extended and centralized; in every black district +there was a Council; for the state there was a Grand Council; and for +the United States there was a National Grand Council with headquarters +in New York City. + +The influence of the League over the Negro was due in large degree to +the mysterious secrecy of the meetings, the weird initiation ceremony +that made him feel fearfully good from his head to his heels, the +imposing ritual, and the songs. The ritual, it is said, was not used +in the North; it was probably adopted for the particular benefit of the +African. The would-be Leaguer was informed that the emblems of the +order were the altar, the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, the +Constitution of the United States, the flag of the Union, censer, +sword, gavel, ballot box, sickle, shuttle, anvil, and other emblems of +industry. He was told to the accompaniment of clanking chains and groans +that the objects of the order were to preserve liberty, to perpetuate +the Union, to maintain the laws and the Constitution, to secure the +ascendancy of American institutions, to protect, defend, and strengthen +all loyal men and members of the Union League in all rights of person +and property, to demand the elevation of labor, to aid in the education +of laboring men, and to teach the duties of American citizenship. +This enumeration of the objects of the League sounded well and was +impressive. At this point the Negro was always willing to take an oath +of secrecy, after which he was asked to swear with a solemn oath to +support the principles of the Declaration of Independence, to pledge +himself to resist all attempts to overthrow the United States, to strive +for the maintenance of liberty, the elevation of labor, the education +of all people in the duties of citizenship, to practice friendship and +charity to all of the order, and to support for election or appointment +to office only such men as were supporters of these principles and +measures. + +The council then sang "Hail, Columbia!" and "The Star Spangled Banner," +after which an official lectured the candidates, saying that though +the designs of traitors had been thwarted, there were yet to be secured +legislative triumphs and the complete ascendancy of the true principles +of popular government, equal liberty, education and elevation of the +workmen, and the overthrow at the ballot box of the old oligarchy of +political leaders. After prayer by the chaplain, the room was darkened, +alcohol on salt flared up with a ghastly light as the "fire of liberty," +and the members joined hands in a circle around the candidate, who was +made to place one hand on the flag and, with the other raised, swear +again to support the government and to elect true Union men to office. +Then placing his hand on a Bible, for the third time he swore to keep +his oath, and repeated after the president "the Freedmen's Pledge": +"To defend and perpetuate freedom and the Union, I pledge my life, my +fortune, and my sacred honor. So help me God!" "John Brown's Body" was +then sung, the president charged the members in a long speech concerning +the principles of the order, and the marshal instructed the neophyte +in the signs. To pass one's self as a Leaguer, the "Four L's" had to +be given: (1) with right hand raised to heaven, thumb and third finger +touching ends over palm, pronounce "Liberty"; (2) bring the hand down +over the shoulder and say "Lincoln"; (3) drop the hand open at the side +and say "Loyal"; (4) catch the thumb in the vest or in the waistband and +pronounce "League." This ceremony of initiation proved a most effective +means of impressing and controlling the Negro through his love and fear +of secret, mysterious, and midnight mummery. An oath taken in daylight +might be forgotten before the next day; not so an oath taken in the dead +of night under such impressive circumstances. After passing through the +ordeal, the Negro usually remained faithful. + +In each populous precinct there was at least one council of the League, +and always one for blacks. In each town or city there were two councils, +one for the whites, and another, with white officers, for the blacks. +The council met once a week, sometimes oftener, nearly always at night, +and in a Negro church or schoolhouse. Guards, armed with rifles and +shotguns, were stationed about the place of meeting in order to keep +away intruders. Members of some councils made it a practice to attend +the meetings armed as if for battle. In these meetings the Negroes +listened to inflammatory speeches by the would-be statesmen of the new +regime; here they were drilled in a passionate conviction that their +interests and those of the Southern whites were eternally at war. + +White men who joined the order before the Negroes were admitted and +who left when the latter became members asserted that the Negroes were +taught in these meetings that the only way to have peace and plenty, to +get "the forty acres and a mule," was to kill some of the leading whites +in each community as a warning to others. In North Carolina twenty-eight +barns were burned in one county by Negroes who believed that Governor +Holden, the head of the State League, had ordered it. The council +in Tuscumbia, Alabama, received advice from Memphis to use the torch +because the blacks were at war with the white race. The advice was +taken. Three men went in front of the council as an advance guard, three +followed with coal oil and fire, and others guarded the rear. The +plan was to burn the whole town, but first one Negro and then another +insisted on having some white man's house spared because "he is a good +man." In the end no residences were burned, and a happy compromise +was effected by burning the Female Academy. Three of the leaders were +afterwards lynched. + +The general belief of the whites was that the ultimate object of the +order was to secure political power and thus bring about on a large +scale the confiscation of the property of Confederates, and meanwhile +to appropriate and destroy the property of their political opponents +wherever possible. Chicken houses, pigpens, vegetable gardens, and +orchards were visited by members returning from the midnight conclaves. +During the presidential campaign of 1868, the North Carolina League sent +out circular instructions to the blacks advising them to drill regularly +and to join the militia, for if Grant were not elected the Negroes would +go back to slavery; if he were elected, the Negroes were to have farms, +mules, and offices. + +As soon as possible after the war the Negroes had supplied themselves +with guns and dogs as badges of freedom. They carried their guns to the +League meetings, often marching in military formation, went through the +drill there, marched home again along the roads, shouting, firing, and +indulging in boasts and threats against persons whom they disliked. +Later, military parades in the daytime were much favored. Several +hundred Negroes would march up and down the streets, abusing whites, +and shoving them off the sidewalk or out of the road. But on the whole, +there was very little actual violence, though the whites were much +alarmed at times. That outrages were comparatively few was due, not +to any sensible teachings of the leaders, but to the fundamental good +nature of the blacks, who were generally content with mere impudence. + +The relations between the races, indeed, continued on the whole to +be friendly until 1867-68. For a while, in some localities before the +advent of the League, and in others where the Bureau was conducted by +native magistrates, the Negroes looked to their old masters for guidance +and advice; and the latter, for the good of both races, were most eager +to retain a moral control over the blacks. They arranged barbecues and +picnics for the Negroes, made speeches, gave good advice, and believed +that everything promised well. Sometimes the Negroes themselves arranged +the festival and invited prominent whites, for whom a separate table +attended by Negro waiters was reserved; and after dinner there followed +speeches by both whites and blacks. + +With the organization of the League, the Negroes grew more reserved, +and finally became openly unfriendly to the whites. The League alone, +however, was not responsible for this change. The League and the Bureau +had to some extent the same personnel, and it is frequently impossible +to distinguish clearly between the influence of the two. In many ways +the League was simply the political side of the Bureau. The preaching +and teaching missionaries were also at work. And apart from the +organized influences at work, the poor whites never laid aside their +hostility towards the blacks, bond or free. + +When the campaigns grew exciting, the discipline of the order was used +to prevent the Negroes from attending Democratic meetings and hearing +Democratic speakers. The leaders even went farther and forbade the +attendance of the blacks at political meetings where the speakers were +not endorsed by the League. Almost invariably the scalawag disliked the +Leaguer, black or white, and as a political teacher often found himself +proscribed by the League. At a Republican mass meeting in Alabama, a +white Republican who wanted to make a speech was shouted down by the +Negroes because he was "opposed to the Loyal League." He then went to +another place to speak but was followed by the crowd, which refused to +allow him to say anything. All Republicans in good standing had to join +the League and swear that secession was treason--a rather stiff dose for +the scalawag. Judge (later Governor) David P. Lewis, of Alabama, was a +member for a short while but he soon became disgusted and published +a denunciation of the order. Albion W. Tourgee, the author, a radical +judge, was the first chief of the League in North Carolina and was +succeeded by Governor Holden. In Alabama, Generals Swayne, Spencer, and +Warner, all candidates for the United States Senate, hastened to join +the order. + +As soon as a candidate was nominated by the League, it was the duty of +every member to support him actively. Failure to do so resulted in a +fine or other more severe punishment, and members who had been expelled +were still considered under the control of the officials. The League +was, in fact, the machine of the radical party, and all candidates had +to be governed by its edicts. As the Montgomery Council declared, the +Union League was "the right arm of the Union-Republican party in the +United States." + +Every Negro was ex colore a member or under the control of the League. +In the opinion of the League, white Democrats were bad enough, but +black Democrats were not to be tolerated. It was almost necessary, as +a measure of personal safety, for each black to support the radical +program. It was possible in some cases for a Negro to refrain from +taking an active part in political affairs. He might even fail to vote. +But it was actually dangerous for a black to be a Democrat; that is, to +try to follow his old master in politics. The whites in many cases were +forced to advise their few faithful black friends to vote the radical +ticket in order to escape mistreatment. Those who showed Democratic +leanings were proscribed in Negro society and expelled from Negro +churches; the Negro women would not "proshay" (appreciate) a black +Democrat. Such a one was sure to find that influence was being brought +to bear upon his dusky sweetheart or his wife to cause him to see the +error of his ways, and persistent adherence to the white party would +result in his losing her. The women were converted to radicalism before +the men, and they almost invariably used their influence strongly in +behalf of the League. If moral suasion failed to cause the delinquent to +see the light, other methods were used. Threats were common and usually +sufficed. Fines were levied by the League on recalcitrant members. In +case of the more stubborn, a sound beating was effective to bring about +a change of heart. The offending party was "bucked and gagged," or he +was tied by the thumbs and thrashed. Usually the sufferer was too afraid +to complain of the way he was treated. + +Some of the methods of the Loyal League were similar to those of +the later Ku Klux Klan. Anonymous warnings were sent to obnoxious +individuals, houses were burned, notices were posted at night in public +places and on the houses of persons who had incurred the hostility of +the order. In order to destroy the influence of the whites where kindly +relations still existed, an "exodus order" issued through the League +directed all members to leave their old homes and obtain work elsewhere. +Some of the blacks were loath to comply with this order, but to +remonstrances from the whites the usual reply was: "De word done sent to +de League. We got to go." For special meetings the Negroes were in +some regions called together by signal guns. In this way the call for a +gathering went out over a county in a few minutes and a few hours later +nearly all the members in the county assembled at the appointed place. + +Negroes as organizing agents were inclined to go to extremes and for +that reason were not so much used. In Bullock County, Alabama, a council +of the League was organized under the direction of a Negro emissary, who +proceeded to assume the government of the community. A list of crimes +and punishments was adopted, a court with various officials was +established, and during the night the Negroes who opposed the new +regime were arrested. But the black sheriff and his deputy were in +turn arrested by the civil authorities. The Negroes then organized for +resistance, flocked into the county seat, and threatened to exterminate +the whites and take possession of the county. Their agents visited +the plantations and forced the laborers to join them by showing orders +purporting to be from General Swayne, the commander in the state, giving +them the authority to kill all who resisted them. Swayne, however, sent +out detachments of troops and arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and +the League government collapsed. + +After it was seen that existing political institutions were to be +overturned in the process of reconstruction, the white councils of the +League and, to a certain extent, the Negro councils were converted into +training schools for the leaders of the new party soon to be formed in +the state by act of Congress. The few whites who were in control were +unwilling to admit more white members to share in the division of the +spoils; terms of admission became more stringent, and, especially +after the passage of the reconstruction acts in March 1867, many white +applicants were rejected. The alien element from the North was in +control and as a result, where the blacks were numerous, the largest +plums fell to the carpetbaggers. The Negro leaders--the politicians, +preachers, and teachers--trained in the League acted as subordinates +to the whites and were sent out to drum up the country Negroes when +elections drew near. The Negroes were given minor positions when offices +were more plentiful than carpetbaggers. Later, after some complaint, a +larger share of the offices fell to them. The League counted its largest +white membership in 1865-66, and after that date it steadily decreased. +The largest Negro membership was recorded in 1867 and 1868. The total +membership was never made known. In North Carolina the order claimed +from seventy-five thousand to one hundred and twenty-five thousand +members; in states with larger Negro populations the membership was +probably quite as large. After the election of 1868, only the councils +in the towns remained active, many of them transformed into political +clubs, loosely organized under local political leaders. The plantation +Negro needed less looking after, and except in the largest towns he +became a kind of visiting member of the council in the town. The League +as a political organization gradually died out by 1870.* + + * The Ku Klux Klan had much to do with the decline of the + organization. The League as the ally and successor of the + Freedmen's Bureau was one of the causes of the Ku Klux + movement, because it helped to create the conditions which + made such a movement inevitable. As early as 1870 the + radical leaders missed the support formerly given by the + League, and an urgent appeal was sent out all over the South + from headquarters in New York advocating its reestablishment + to assist in carrying the elections of 1870. + + +The League had served its purpose. It had enabled a few outsiders +to control the Negro by separating the races politically and it had +compelled the Negroes to vote as radicals for several years, when +without its influence they would either not have voted at all or would +have voted as Democrats along with their former masters. The order was +necessary to the existence of the radical party in the Black Belt. No +ordinary political organization could have welded the blacks into a +solid party. The Freedmen's Bureau, which had much influence over the +Negroes, was too weak in numbers to control the Negroes in politics. +The League finally absorbed the personnel of the Bureau and turned its +prestige and its organization to political advantage. + + + +CHAPTER IX. CHURCH AND SCHOOL + +Reconstruction in the state was closely related to reconstruction in the +churches and the schools. Here also were to be found the same hostile +elements: Negro and white, Unionist and Confederate, victor and +vanquished. The church was at that time an important institution in the +South, more so than in the North, and in both sections more important +than it is today. It was inevitable, therefore, that ecclesiastical +reconstruction should give rise to bitter feelings. + +Something should be said of conditions in the churches when the Federal +armies occupied the land. The Southern organizations had lost many +ministers and many of their members, and frequently their buildings +were used as hospitals or had been destroyed. Their administration was +disorganized and their treasuries were empty. The Unionists, scattered +here and there but numerous in the mountain districts, no longer wished +to attend the Southern churches. + +The military censorship in church matters, which continued for a year in +some districts, was irritating, especially in the Border States and in +the Union districts where Northern preachers installed by the army were +endeavoring to remain against the will of the people. Mobs sometimes +drove them out; others were left to preach to empty houses or to a few +Unionists and officers, while the congregation withdrew to build a new +church. The problems of Negro membership in the white churches and of +the future relations of the Northern and Southern denominations were +pressing for settlement. + +All Northern organizations acted in 1865 upon the assumption that a +reunion of the churches must take place and that the divisions existing +before the war should not be continued, since slavery, the cause of the +division, had been destroyed. But they insisted that the reunion must +take place upon terms named by the "loyal" churches, that the Negroes +must also come under "loyal" religious direction, and that tests must be +applied to the Confederate sinners asking for admission, in order that +the enormity of their crimes should be made plain to them. But this +policy did not succeed. The Confederates objected to being treated as +"rebels and traitors" and to "sitting upon stools of repentance" before +they should be received again into the fold. + +Only two denominations were reunited--the Methodist Protestant, the +northern section of which came over to the southern, and the Protestant +Episcopal, in which moderate counsels prevailed and into which +Southerners were welcomed back. The Southern Baptists maintained their +separate existence and reorganized the Southern Baptist Convention, to +which came many of the Baptist associations in the Border States; the +Catholics did not divide before 1861 and therefore had no reconstruction +problems to solve; and the smaller denominations maintained the +organizations which they had before 1861. A Unionist preacher testified +before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction that even the Southern +Quakers "are about as decided in regard to the respectability of +secession as any other class of people." + +Two other great Southern churches, the Presbyterian and the Methodist +Episcopal, grew stronger after the Civil War. The tendency toward +reunion of the Presbyterians was checked when one Northern branch +declared as "a condition precedent to the admission of southern +applicants that these confess as sinful all opinions before held in +regard to slavery, nullification, rebellion and slavery, and stigmatize +secession as a crime and the withdrawal of the southern churches as a +schism." Another Northern group declared that southern ministers must +be placed on probation and must either prove their loyalty or profess +repentance for disloyalty and repudiate their former opinions. As a +result several Presbyterian bodies in the South joined in a strong +union, to which also adhered the synods of several Border States. + +The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was confronted with conditions +similar to those which prevented the reunion of the Presbyterians. The +Northern church, according to the declaration of its authorities, also +came down to divide the spoils and to "disintegrate and absorb" the +"schismatic" Southern churches. Already many Southern pulpits were +filled with Northern Methodist ministers placed there under military +protection; and when they finally realized that reunion was not +possible, these Methodist worthies resolved to occupy the late +Confederacy as a mission field and to organize congregations of blacks +and whites who were "not tainted with treason." Bishops and clergymen +charged with this work carried it on vigorously for a few years in close +connection with political reconstruction. + +The activities of the Northern Methodists stimulated the Southern +Methodists to a quick reorganization. The surviving bishops met in +August 1865, and bound together their shaken church. In reply to +suggestions of reunion they asserted that the Northern Methodists had +become "incurably radical," were too much involved in politics, and, +further, that they had, without right, seized and were still holding +Southern church buildings. They objected also to the way the Northern +church referred to the Southerners as "schismatics" and to the Southern +church as one built on slavery and therefore, now that slavery was +gone, to be reconstructed. The bishops warned their people against the +missionary efforts of the Northern brethren and against the attempts +to "disintegrate and absorb" Methodism in the South. Within five years +after the war, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was greatly +increased in numbers by the accession of conferences in Maryland, +Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and even from above the Ohio, while +the Northern Methodist Church was able to organize only a few white +congregations outside of the stronger Unionist districts, but continued +to labor in the South as a missionary field.* + + * The church situation after the war was well described in + 1866 by an editorial writer in the "Nation" who pointed out + that the Northern churches thought the South determined to + make the religious division permanent, though "slavery no + longer furnishes a pretext for separation." "Too much pains + were taken to bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and + irritating offers of reconciliation are made by the Northern + churches, all based on the assumption that the South has not + only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. We + expect them to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers + of forgiveness. But the Southern people look upon a 'loyal' + missionary as a political emissary, and 'loyal' men do not + at present possess the necessary qualifications for + evangelizing the Southerners or softening their hearts, and + are sure not to succeed in doing so. We look upon their + defeat as retribution and expect them to do the same. It + will do no good if we tell the Southerner that 'we will + forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, + offer to pray with them, preach with them, and labor with + them over their hideous sins.'" + + +But if the large Southern churches held their white membership and even +gained in numbers and territory, they fought a losing fight to retain +their black members. It was assumed by Northern ecclesiastics that +whether a reunion of whites took place or not, the Negroes would receive +spiritual guidance from the North. This was necessary, they said, +because the Southern whites were ignorant and impoverished and because +"the state of mind among even the best classes of Southern whites +rendered them incapable... of doing justice to the people whom they +had so long persistently wronged." Further, it was also necessary for +political reasons to remove the Negroes from Southern religious control. + +For obvious reasons, however, the Southern churches wanted to hold their +Negro members. They declared themselves in favor of Negro education and +of better organized religious work among the blacks, and made every +sort of accommodation to hold them. The Baptists organized separate +congregations, with white or black pastors as desired, and associations +of black churches. In 1866 the Methodist General Conference authorized +separate congregations, quarterly conferences, annual conferences, even +a separate jurisdiction, with Negro preachers, presiding elders, and +bishops--but all to no avail. Every, Northern political, religious, or +military agency in the South worked for separation, and Negro preachers +were not long in seeing the greater advantages which they would have in +independent churches. + +Much of the separate organization was accomplished in mutual good +will, particularly in the Baptist ranks. The Reverend I. T. Tichenor, a +prominent Baptist minister, has described the process as it took place +in the First Baptist Church in Montgomery. The church had nine hundred +members, of whom six hundred were black. The Negroes received a regular +organization of their own under the supervision of the white pastors. +When a separation of the two bodies was later deemed desirable, it was +inaugurated by a conference of the Negroes which passed a resolution +couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting the wisdom of the division, +and asking the concurrence of the white church in such action. The white +church cordially approved the movement, and the two bodies united in +erecting a suitable house of worship for the Negroes. Until the new +church was completed, both congregations continued to occupy jointly the +old house of worship. The new house was paid for in large measure by the +white members of the church and by individuals in the community. As soon +as it was completed, the colored church moved into it with its pastor, +board of deacons, committees of all sorts, and the whole machinery +of church life went into action without a jar. Similar accommodations +occurred in all the states of the South. + +The Methodists lost the greater part of their Negro membership to +two organizations which came down from the North in 1865--the African +Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, +Zion. Large numbers also went over to the Northern Methodist Church. +After losing nearly three hundred thousand members, the Southern +Methodists came to the conclusion that the remaining seventy-eight +thousand Negroes would be more comfortable in a separate organization +and therefore began in 1866 the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, with +bishops, conferences, and all the accompaniments of the parent Methodist +Church, which continued to give friendly aid but exercised no control. +For many years the Colored Methodist Church was under fire from the +other Negro denominations, who called it the "rebel," the "Democratic," +the "old slavery" church. + +The Negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterians were similarly set off +into a small African organization. The Southern Presbyterians and the +Episcopalians established separate congregations and missions under +white supervision but sanctioned no independent Negro organization. +Consequently the Negroes soon deserted these churches and went with +their own kind. + +Resentment at the methods employed by the Northern religious +carpetbaggers was strong among the Southern whites. "Emissaries of +Christ and the radical party" they were called by one Alabama +leader. Governor Lindsay of the same state asserted that the Northern +missionaries caused race hatred by teaching the Negroes to regard the +whites as their natural enemies, who, if possible, would put them back +in slavery. Others were charged with teaching that to be on the safe +side, the blacks should get into a Northern church, and that "Christ +died for Negroes and Yankees, not for rebels." + +The scalawags, also, developed a dislike of the Northern church +work among the Negroes, and it was impossible to organize mixed +congregations. Of the Reverend A. S. Lakin, a well-known agent of the +Northern Methodist Church in Alabama, Nicholas Davis, a North Alabama +Unionist and scalawag, said to the Ku Klux Committee: "The character of +his [Lakin's] speech was this: to teach the Negroes that every man that +was born and raised in the Southern country was their enemy, that there +was no use trusting them, no matter what they said--if they said they +were for the Union or anything else. 'No use talking, they are your +enemies.' And he made a pretty good speech, too; awful; a hell of a one; +... inflammatory and game, too.... It was enough to provoke the devil. +Did all the mischief he could... I tell you, that old fellow is a hell +of an old rascal." + +For a time the white churches were annoyed by intrusions of strange +blacks set on by those who were bent on separating the races. Frequently +there were feuds in white or black congregations over the question of +joining some Northern body. Disputes over church property also arose +and continued for years. Lakin, referred to above, was charged with +"stealing" Negro congregations and uniting them with the Cincinnati +Conference without their knowledge. The Negroes were urged to demand +title to all buildings formerly used for Negro worship, and the +Constitutional Convention of Alabama in 1867 directed that such property +must be turned over to them when claimed. + +The agents of the Northern churches were not greatly different from +other carpetbaggers and adventurers taking advantage of the general +confusion to seize a little power. Many were unscrupulous; others, +sincere and honest but narrow, bigoted, and intolerant, filled with +distrust of the Southern whites and with corresponding confidence in the +blacks and in themselves. The missionary and church publications were +quite as severe on the Southern people as any radical Congressman. The +publications of the Freedmen's Aid Society furnish illustrations of the +feelings and views of those engaged in the Southern work. They in turn +were made to feel the effects of a merciless social proscription. For +this some of them cared not at all, while others or their families felt +it keenly. One woman missionary wrote that she was delighted when a +Southern white would speak to her. A preacher in Virginia declared that +"the females, those especially whose pride has been humbled, are more +intense in their bitterness and endeavor to keep up a social ostracism +against Union and Northern people." The Ku Klux raids were directed +against preachers and congregations whose conduct was disagreeable to +the whites. Lakin asserted that while he was conducting a great revival +meeting among the hills of northern Alabama, Governor Smith and other +prominent and sinful scalawag politicians were there "under conviction" +and about to become converted. But in came the Klan and the congregation +scattered. + +Smith and the others were so angry and frightened that their good +feelings were dissipated, and the devil reentered them, so that Lakin +said he was never able to "get a hold on them" again. For the souls lost +that night he held the Klan responsible. Lakin told several marvelous +stories of his hairbreadth escapes from death by assassination which, if +true, would be enough to ruin the reputation of northern Alabama men for +marksmanship. + +The reconstruction ended with conditions in the churches similar to +those in politics: the races were separated and unfriendly; Northern and +Southern church organizations were divided; and between them, especially +in the border and mountain districts, there existed factional quarrels +of a political origin, for every Northern Methodist was a Republican and +every Southern Methodist was a Democrat. + +The schools of the South, like the churches and political institutions, +were thrown into the melting pot of reconstruction. The spirit in which +the work was begun may be judged from the tone of the addresses made at +a meeting of the National Teachers Association in 1865. The president, +S. S. Greene, declared that "the old slave States are to be the new +missionary ground for the national school teacher." Francis Wayland, the +former president of Brown University, remarked that "it has been a war +of education and patriotism against ignorance and barbarism." President +Hill of Harvard spoke of the "new work of spreading knowledge and +intellectual culture over the regions that sat in darkness." Other +speakers asserted that the leading Southern whites were as much opposed +to free schools as to free governments and "we must treat them as +western farmers do the stumps in their clearings, work around them and +let them rot out"; that the majority of the whites were more ignorant +than the slaves; and that the Negro must be educated and strengthened +against "the wiles, the guile, and hate of his baffled masters and their +minions." The New England Freedmen's Aid Society considered it necessary +to educate the Negro "as a counteracting influence against the evil +councils and designs of the white freemen." + +The tasks that confronted the Southern States in 1865-67 were two: +first, to restore the shattered school systems of the whites; and +second, to arrange for the education of the Negroes. Education of the +Negro slave had been looked upon as dangerous and had been generally +forbidden. A small number of Negroes could read and write, but there +were at the close of the war no schools for the children. Before 1861, +each state had developed at least the outlines of a school system. +Though hindered in development by the sparseness of the population and +by the prevalence in some districts of the Virginia doctrine that free +schools were only for the poor, public schools were nevertheless in +existence in 1861. Academies and colleges, however, were thronged with +students. When the war ended, the public schools were disorganized, +and the private academies and the colleges were closed. Teachers and +students had been dispersed; buildings had been burned or used +for hospitals and laboratories; and public libraries had virtually +disappeared. + +The colleges made efforts to open in the fall of 1865. Only one student +presented himself at the University of Alabama for matriculation; but +before June 1866, the stronger colleges were again in operation. The +public or semi-public schools for the whites also opened in the fall. +In the cities where Federal military authorities had brought about +the employment of Northern teachers, there was some friction. In +New Orleans, for example, the teachers required the children to sing +Northern songs and patriotic airs. When the Confederates were restored +to power, these teachers were dismissed. + +The movement toward Negro education was general throughout the South. +Among the blacks themselves there was an intense desire to learn. They +wished to read the Bible, to be preachers, to be as the old master and +not have to work. Day and night and Sunday they crowded the schools. +According to an observer,* "not only are individuals seen at study, and +under the most untoward circumstances, but in very many places I have +found what I will call 'native schools,' often rude and very imperfect, +but there they are, a group, perhaps, of all ages, trying to learn. Some +young man, some woman, or old preacher, in cellar, or shed, or corner +of a Negro meeting-house, with the alphabet in hand, or a town +spelling-book, is their teacher. All are full of enthusiasm with the new +knowledge the book is imparting to them." + + * J. W. Alvord, Superintendent of Schools for the Freedmen's + Bureau, 1866. + + +Not only did the Negroes want schooling, but both the North and the +South proposed to give it to them. Neither side was actuated entirely by +altruistic motives. A Hampton Institute teacher in later days remarked: +"When the combat was over and the Yankee school-ma'am followed in the +train of the northern armies, the business of educating the Negroes was +a continuation of hostilities against the vanquished and was so regarded +to a considerable extent on both sides." + +The Southern churches, through their bishops and clergy, the newspapers, +and prominent individuals such as J. L. M. Curry, John B. Gordon, J. +L. Orr, Governors Brown, Moore, and Patton, came out in favor of Negro +education. Of this movement General Swayne said: "Quite early.... the +several religious denominations took strong ground in favor of the +education of the freedmen. The principal argument was an appeal to +sectional and sectarian prejudice, lest, the work being inevitable, +the influence which must come from it be realized by others; but it is +believed that this was but the shield and weapon which men of unselfish +principle found necessary at first." The newspapers took the attitude +that the Southern whites should teach the Negroes because it was their +duty, because it was good policy, and because if they did not do so some +one else would. The "Advertiser" of Montgomery stated that education +was a danger in slavery times but that under freedom ignorance became +a danger. For a time there were numerous schools taught by crippled +Confederates and by Southern women. + +But the education of the Negro, like his religious training, was +taken from the control of the Southern white and was placed under the +direction of the Northern teachers and missionaries who swarmed into the +country under the fostering care of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Northern +churches, and the various Freedmen's Aid Societies. In three years the +Bureau spent six million dollars on Negro schools and everywhere it +exercised supervision over them. The teachers pursued a policy akin +to that of the religious leaders. One Southerner likened them to +the "plagues of Egypt," another described them as "saints, fools, +incendiaries, fakirs, and plain business men and women." A Southern +woman remarked that "their spirit was often high and noble so far as the +black man's elevation was concerned, but toward the white it was bitter, +judicial, and unrelenting." The Northern teachers were charged with +ignorance of social conditions, with fraternizing with the blacks, and +with teaching them that the Southerners were traitors, "murderers of +Lincoln," who had been cruel taskmasters and who now wanted to restore +servitude. + +The reaction against Negro education, which began to show itself before +reconstruction was inaugurated, found expression in the view of most +whites that "schooling ruins a Negro." A more intelligent opinion was +that of J. L. M. Curry, a lifelong advocate of Negro education: + +"It is not just to condemn the Negro for the education which he received +in the early years after the war. That was the period of reconstruction, +the saturnalia of misgovernment, the greatest possible hindrance to the +progress of the freedmen.... The education was unsettling, demoralizing, +[and it] pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as a quick method +of reversing social and political conditions. Nothing could have been +better devised for deluding the poor Negro and making him the tool, +the slave of corrupt taskmasters. Education is a natural consequence +of citizenship and enfranchisement... of freedom and humanity. But with +deliberate purpose to subject the Southern States to Negro domination, +and secure the States permanently for partisan ends, the education +adopted was contrary to commonsense, to human experience, to all noble +purposes. The curriculum was for a people in the highest degree of +civilization; the aptitude and capabilities and needs of the Negro were +wholly disregarded. Especial stress was laid on classics and liberal +culture to bring the race per saltum to the same plane with their former +masters, and realize the theory of social and political equality. A race +more highly civilized, with best heredities and environments, could +not have been coddled with more disregard of all the teachings of human +history and the necessities of the race. Colleges and universities, +established and conducted by the Freedmen's Bureau and Northern churches +and societies, sprang up like mushrooms, and the teachers, ignorant, +fanatical, without self-poise, proceeded to make all possible mischief. +It is irrational, cruel, to hold the Negro, under such strange +conditions, responsible for all the ill consequences of bad education, +unwise teachers, reconstruction villainies, and partisan schemes." + + * Quoted in "Proceedings of the Montgomery Conference on + Race Problems" (1900), p. 128. + + +Education was to be looked upon as a handmaid to a thorough +reconstruction, and its general character and aim were determined by +the Northern teachers. Each convention framed a more or less complicated +school system and undertook to provide for its support. The Negroes in +the conventions were anxious for free schools; the conservatives were +willing; but the carpetbaggers and a few mulatto leaders insisted in +several States upon mixed schools. Only in Louisiana and South Carolina +did the constitutions actually forbid separate schools; in Mississippi, +Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas the question was left open, to the +embarrassment of the whites. Generally the blacks showed no desire for +mixed schools unless urged to it by the carpetbaggers. In the South +Carolina convention, a mulatto thus argued in favor of mixed schools: +"The gentleman from Newberry said he was afraid we were taking a wrong +course to remove these prejudices. The most natural method to effect +this object would be to allow children when five or six years of age to +mingle in schools together and associate generally. Under such training, +prejudice must eventually die out; but if we postpone it until they +become men and women, prejudice will be so established that no mortal +can obliterate it. This, I think, is a sufficient reply to the argument +of the gentleman." + +The state systems were top-heavy with administrative machinery and were +officered by incompetent and corrupt officials. Such men as Cloud in +Alabama, Cardozo in Mississippi, Conway in Louisiana, and Jillson in +South Carolina are fair samples of them. Much of the personnel was taken +over from the Bureau teaching force. The school officials were no better +than the other officeholders. + +The first result of the attempt to use the schools as an instrument +of reconstruction ended in the ruin of several state universities. +The faculties of the Universities of North Carolina, Mississippi, and +Alabama were made radical and the institutions thereupon declined to +nothing. The Negroes, unable to control the faculty of the University +of South Carolina, forced Negro students in and thus got possession. +In Louisiana the radical legislature cut off all funds because the +university would not admit Negroes. The establishment of the land grant +colleges was an occasion for corruption and embezzlement. + +The common schools were used for radical ends. The funds set aside for +them by the state constitutions or appropriated by the legislatures for +these schools seldom reached their destination without being lessened +by embezzlement or by plain stealing. Frequently the auditor, or the +treasurer, or even the legislature diverted the school funds to other +purposes. Suffice it to say that all of the reconstruction systems broke +down financially after a brief existence. + +The mixed school provisions in Louisiana and South Carolina and the +uncertainty of the educational situation in other States caused white +children to stay away from the public schools. For several years the +Negroes were better provided than the whites, having for themselves both +all the public schools and also those supported by private benevolence. +In Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina the whites could get no +money for schoolhouses, while large sums were spent on Negro schools. +The Peabody Board, then recently inaugurated,* refused to cooperate +with school officials in the mixed school states and, when criticized, +replied: "It is well known that we are helping the white children +of Louisiana as being the more destitute from the fact of their +unwillingness to attend mixed schools." + + * To administer the fund bequeathed by George Peabody of + Massachusetts to promote education in the Southern States. + See "The New South", by Holland Thompson (in "The Chronicles + of America"). + + +As was to be expected, the whites criticized the attitude of the school +officials, disapproved of the attempts made in the schools to teach +the children radical ideas, and objected to the contents of the history +texts and the "Freedmen's Readers." A white school board in Mississippi, +by advertising for a Democratic teacher for a Negro school, drew the +fire of a radical editor who inquired: "What is the motive by which this +call for a 'competent Democratic teacher' is prompted? The most damning +that has ever moved the heart of man. It is to use the vote and action +of a human being as a means by which to enslave him. The treachery and +villainy of these rebels stands without parallel in the history of men." + +A Negro politician has left this account of a radical recitation in a +Florida Negro school: + +After finishing the arithmetic lesson they must next go through the +catechism: + +"Who is the 'Publican Government of the State of Florida?" Answer: +"Governor Starns." + +"Who made him Governor?" Answer: "The colored people." + +"Who is trying to get him out of his seat?" Answer: "The Democrats, +Conover, and some white and black Liberal Republicans." + +"What should the colored people do with the men who is trying to get +Governor Starns out of his seat?" Answer: "They should kill them.".... + +This was done that the patrons, some of whom could not read, would be +impressed by the expressions of their children, and would be ready +to put any one to death who would come out into the country and say +anything against Governor Starns. + +The native white teachers soon dropped out of Negro schools, and those +from the North met with the same social persecution as the white church +workers. The White League and Ku Klux Klan drove off obnoxious teachers, +whipped some, burned Negro schoolhouses, and in various other ways +manifested the reaction which was rousing the whites against Negro +schools. + +The several agencies working for Negro education gave some training to +hundreds of thousands of blacks, but the whites asserted that, like the +church work, it was based on a wrong spirit and resulted in evil as +well as in good. Free schools failed in reconstruction because of +the dishonesty or incompetence of the authorities and because of the +unsettled race question. It was not until the turn of the century that +the white schools were again as good as they had been before 1861. +After the reconstruction native whites as teachers of Negro schools were +impossible in most places. The hostile feelings of the whites resulted +and still result in a limitation of Negro schools. The best thing for +Negro schools that came out of reconstruction was Armstrong's Hampton +Institute program, which, however, was quite opposed to the spirit of +reconstruction education. + + + +CHAPTER X. CARPETBAG AND NEGRO RULE + +The Southern States reconstructed by Congress were subject for periods +of varying length to governments designed by radical Northerners and +imposed by elements thrown to the surface in the upheaval of Southern +society. Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina each had a brief +experience with these governments; other States escaped after four +or five years, while Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida were not +delivered from this domination until 1876. The states which contained +large numbers of Negroes had, on the whole, the worst experience. Here +the officials were ignorant or corrupt, frauds upon the public were the +rule, not the exception, and all of the reconstruction governments were +so conducted that they could secure no support from the respectable +elements of the electorate. + +The fundamental cause of the failure of these governments was the +character of the new ruling class. Every state, except perhaps Virginia, +was under the control of a few able leaders from the North generally +called carpetbaggers and of a few native white radicals contemptuously +designated scalawags. These were kept in power by Negro voters, to +some seven hundred thousand of whom the ballot had been given by the +reconstruction acts. The adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment in March +1870, brought the total in the former slave states to 931,000, with +about seventy-five thousand more Negroes in the North. The Negro voters +were most numerous, comparatively, in Louisiana, Mississippi, South +Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. There were a few thousand carpetbaggers +in each State, with, at first, a much larger number of scalawags. The +latter, who were former Unionists, former Whigs, Confederate deserters, +and a few unscrupulous politicians, were most numerous in Virginia, +North Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The better class, +however, rapidly left the radical party as the character of the new +regime became evident, taking with them whatever claims the party had to +respectability, education, political experience, and property. + +The conservatives, hopelessly reduced by the operation of disfranchising +laws, were at first not well organized, nor were they at any time as +well led as in antebellum days. In 1868, about one hundred thousand +of them were forbidden to vote and about two hundred thousand were +disqualified from holding office. The abstention policy of 1867-68 +resulted in an almost complete withdrawal of the influence of the +conservatives for the two years, 1868-70. As a class they were regarded +by the dominant party in state and nation as dangerous and untrustworthy +and were persecuted in such irritating ways that many became indifferent +to the appeals of civil duty. They formed a solid but almost despairing +opposition in the black districts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, +and South Carolina. For the leaders the price of amnesty was conversion +to radicalism, but this price few would pay. + +The new state governments possessed certain characteristics in common. +Since only a small number of able men were available for office, full +powers of administration, including appointment and removal, were +concentrated in the hands of the governor. He exercised a wide control +over public funds and had authority to organize and command militia and +constabulary and to call for Federal troops. The numerous administrative +boards worked with the sole object of keeping their party in power. +Officers were several times as numerous as under the old regime, and all +of them received higher salaries and larger contingent fees. The moral +support behind the government was that of President Grant and the United +States army, not that of a free and devoted people. + +Of the twenty men who served as governors, eight were scalawags and +twelve were carpetbaggers, men who were abler than the scalawags and who +had much more than an equal share of the spoils. The scalawags, such as +Brownlow of Tennessee, Smith of Alabama, and Holden of North Carolina, +were usually honest but narrow, vindictive men, filled with fear and +hate of the conservative whites. + +Of the carpetbaggers half were personally honest, but all were +unscrupulous in politics.' Some were flagrantly dishonest.* Governor +Moses of South Carolina was several times bribed and at one time, +according to his own statement, received $15,000 for his vote as speaker +of the House of Representatives. Governor Stearns of Florida was charged +with stealing government supplies from the Negroes; and it was notorious +that Warmoth and Kellogg of Louisiana, each of whom served only one +term, retired with large fortunes. Warmoth, indeed, went so far as to +declare: "Corruption is the fashion. I do not pretend to be honest, but +only as honest as anybody in politics." + +The judiciary was no better than the executive. The chief justice +of Louisiana was convicted of fraud. A supreme court judge of South +Carolina offered his decisions for sale, and Whipper and Moses, +both notorious thieves, were elected judges by the South Carolina +Legislature. In Alabama there were many illiterate magistrates, among +them the city judge of Selma, who in April 1865, was still living as +a slave. Governor Chamberlain, a radical, asserted that there were two +hundred trial judges in South Carolina who could not read. + +Other officers were of the same stripe. Leslie, a South Carolina +carpetbagger, declared that "South Carolina has no right to be a state +unless she can support her statesmen," and he proceeded to live up to +this principle. The manager of the state railroad of Georgia, when asked +how he had been able to accumulate twenty or thirty thousand dollars on +a two or three thousand dollar salary, replied, "By the exercise of the +most rigid economy." A North Carolina Negro legislator was found on one +occasion chuckling as he counted some money. "What are you laughing at, +Uncle?" he was asked. "Well, boss, I'se been sold 'leben times in +my life and dis is de fust time I eber got de money." Godkin, in the +"Nation", said that the Georgia officials were "probably as bad a lot of +political tricksters and adventurers as ever got together in one place." +This description will fit equally well the white officials of all the +reconstructed states. Many of the Negroes who attained public office +showed themselves apt pupils of their carpetbag masters but were seldom +permitted to appropriate a large share of the plunder. In Florida the +Negro members of the legislature, thinking that they should have a part +of the bribe and loot money which their carpetbag masters were said to +be receiving, went so far as to appoint what was known as a "smelling +committee" to locate the good things and secure a share. + +From 1868 to 1870, the legislatures of seven states were overwhelmingly +radical and in several the radical majority held control for four, +six, or eight years. Negroes were most numerous in the legislatures of +Louisiana, South Carolina, and Mississippi, and everywhere the votes of +these men were for sale. In Alabama and Louisiana, Negro legislators had +a fixed price for their votes: for example, six hundred dollars would +buy a senator in Louisiana. In South Carolina, Negro government appeared +at its worst. A vivid description of the Legislature of this State in +which the Negroes largely outnumbered the whites is given by James S. +Pike, a Republican journalist*: + + *Pike, "The Prostrate State", pp. 12 ff. + + +"In the place of this old aristocratic society stands the rude form of +the most ignorant democracy that mankind ever saw, invested with the +functions of government. It is the dregs of the population habilitated +in the robes of their intelligent predecessors, and asserting over them +the rule of ignorance and corruption.... It is barbarism overwhelming +civilization by physical force. It is the slave rioting in the halls of +his master, and putting that master under his feet. And, though it is +done without malice and without vengeance, it is nevertheless none +the less completely and absolutely done.... We will enter the House of +Representatives. Here sit one hundred and twenty-four members. Of +these, twenty-three are white men, representing the remains of the old +civilization. These are good-looking, substantial citizens. They are men +of weight and standing in the communities they represent. They are all +from the hill country. The frosts of sixty and seventy winters whiten +the heads of some among them. There they sit, grim and silent. They feel +themselves to be but loose stones, thrown in to partially obstruct a +current they are powerless to resist.... + +"This dense Negro crowd... do the debating, the squabbling, the +lawmaking, and create all the clamor and disorder of the body. These +twenty-three white men are but the observers, the enforced auditors of +the dull and clumsy imitation of a deliberative body, whose appearance +in their present capacity is at once a wonder and a shame to modern +civilization.... The Speaker is black, the Clerk is black, the +doorkeepers are black, the little pages are black, the chairman of the +Ways and Means is black, and the chaplain is coal black. At some of the +desks sit colored men whose types it would be hard to find outside of +Congo; whose costumes, visages, attitudes, and expression, only befit +the forecastle of a buccaneer. It must be remembered, also, that these +men, with not more than a half dozen exceptions, have been themselves +slaves, and that their ancestors were slaves for generations... + +"But the old stagers admit that the colored brethren have a wonderful +aptness at legislative proceedings. They are 'quick as lightning' +at detecting points of order, and they certainly make incessant and +extraordinary use of their knowledge. No one is allowed to talk five +minutes without interruption, and one interruption is a signal for +another and another, until the original speaker is smothered under an +avalanche of them. Forty questions of privilege will be raised in a +day. At times, nothing goes on but alternating questions of order and +of privilege. The inefficient colored friend who sits in the Speaker's +chair cannot suppress this extraordinary element of the debate. Some of +the blackest members exhibit a pertinacity of intrusion in raising these +points of order and questions of privilege that few white men can +equal. Their struggles to get the floor, their bellowings and physical +contortions, baffle description. + +"The Speaker's hammer plays a perpetual tattoo to no purpose. The +talking and the interruptions from all quarters go on with the utmost +license. Everyone esteems himself as good as his neighbor, and puts +in his oar, apparently as often for love of riot and confusion as for +anything else.... The Speaker orders a member whom he has discovered to +be particularly unruly to take his seat. The member obeys, and with the +same motion that he sits down, throws his feet on to his desk, hiding +himself from the Speaker by the soles of his boots .... After a few +experiences of this sort, the Speaker threatens, in a laugh, to call +the 'gemman' to order. This is considered a capital joke, and a guffaw +follows. The laugh goes round and then the peanuts are cracked and +munched faster than ever; one hand being employed in fortifying the +inner man with this nutriment of universal use, while the other enforces +the views of the orator. This laughing propensity of the sable crowd is +a great cause of disorder. They laugh as hens cackle--one begins and all +follow. + +"But underneath all this shocking burlesque upon legislative +proceedings, we must not forget that there is something very real +to this uncouth and untutored multitude. It is not all sham, nor all +burlesque. They have a genuine interest and a genuine earnestness in the +business of the assembly which we are bound to recognize and respect.... +They have an earnest purpose, born of conviction that their position and +condition are not fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity to their +proceedings. The barbarous, animated jargon in which they so often +indulge is on occasion seen to be so transparently sincere and weighty +in their own minds that sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a +wonderful novelty to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago these +men were raising corn and cotton under the whip of the overseer. Today +they are raising points of order and questions of privilege. They find +they can raise one as well as the other. They prefer the latter. It +is easier and better paid. Then, it is the evidence of an accomplished +result. It means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means +liberty. It means the destruction of prison-walls only too real to them. +It is the sunshine of their lives. It is their day of jubilee. It is +their long-promised vision of the Lord God Almighty." + +The congressional delegations were as radical as the state governments. +During the first two years, there were no Democratic senators from the +reconstructed states and only two Democratic representatives, as against +sixty-four radical senators and representatives. At the end of four +years, the Democrats numbered fifteen against seventy radicals. A Negro +succeeded Jefferson Davis in the Senate, and in all the race sent two +senators and thirteen representatives to Congress; but though several +were of high character and fair ability, they exercised practically no +influence. The Southern delegations had no part in shaping policies but +merely voted as they were told by the radical leaders. + +The effect of dishonest government was soon seen in extravagant +expenditures, heavier taxes, increase of the bonded debt, and depression +of property values. It was to be expected that after the ruin wrought +by war and the admission of the Negro to civil rights, the expenses of +government would be greater. But only lack of honesty will account for +the extraordinary expenses of the reconstruction governments. In Alabama +and Florida, the running expenses of the state government increased +two hundred percent, in Louisiana five hundred percent, and in Arkansas +fifteen hundred percent--all this in addition to bond issues. In South +Carolina the one item of public printing, which from 1790 to 1868 cost +$609,000, amounted in the years 1868-1876 to $1,326,589. + +Corrupt state officials had two ways of getting money--by taxation and +by the sale of bonds. Taxes were everywhere multiplied. The state tax +rate in Alabama was increased four hundred percent, in Louisiana +eight hundred percent, and in Mississippi, which could issue no bonds, +fourteen hundred percent. City and county taxes, where carpetbaggers +were in control, increased in the same way. Thousands of small +proprietors could not meet their taxes, and in Mississippi alone the +land sold for unpaid taxes amounted to six million acres, an area as +large as Massachusetts and Rhode Island together. Nordhoff* speaks of +seeing Louisiana newspapers of which three-fourths were taken up +by notices of tax sales. In protest against extravagant and corrupt +expenditures, taxpayers' conventions were held in every state, but +without effect. + + *Charles Nordhoff, "The Cotton States in the Spring and + Summer of 1875". + + +Even the increased taxation, however, did not produce enough to support +the new governments, which now had recourse to the sale of state and +local bonds. In this way Governor Holden's Administration managed in two +years to increase the public debt of North Carolina from $16,000,000 to +$32,000,000. The state debt of South Carolina rose from $7,000,000 to +$29,000,000 in 1873. In Alabama, by 1874, the debt had mounted from +$7,000,000 to $32,000,000. The public debt of Louisiana rose from +$14,000,000 in 1868 to $48,000,000 in 1871, with a local debt of +$31,000,000. Cities, towns, and counties sold bonds by the bale. The +debt of New Orleans increased twenty-five fold and that of Vicksburg +a thousandfold. A great deal of the debt was the result of fraudulent +issues of bonds or over-issue. For this form of fraud, the state +financial agents in New York were usually responsible. Southern bonds +sold far below par, and the time came when they were peddled about at +ten to twenty-five cents on the dollar. + +Still another disastrous result followed this corrupt financiering. In +Alabama there was a sixty-five percent decrease in property values, +in Florida forty-five percent, and in Louisiana fifty to seventy-five +percent. A large part of the best property was mortgaged, and +foreclosure sales were frequent. Poorer property could be neither +mortgaged nor sold. There was an exodus of whites from the worst +governed districts in the West and the North. Many towns, among them +Mobile and Memphis, surrendered their charters and were ruled directly +by the governor; and there were numerous "strangulated" counties which +on account of debt had lost self-government and were ruled by appointees +of the governor. + +A part of the money raised by taxes and by bond sales was used for +legitimate expenses and the rest went to pay forged warrants, excess +warrants, and swollen mileage accounts, and to fill the pockets of +embezzlers and thieves from one end of the South to the other. In +Arkansas, for example, the auditor's clerk hire, which was $4000 in +1866, cost twenty-three times as much in 1873. In Louisiana and South +Carolina, stealing was elevated into an art and was practiced without +concealment. In the latter state, the worthless Hell Hole Swamp was +bought for $26,000 to be farmed by the Negroes but was charged to the +state at $120,000. A free restaurant maintained at the Capitol for the +legislators cost $125,000 for one session. The porter who conducted it +said that he kept it open sixteen to twenty hours a day and that someone +was always in the room eating and drinking or smoking. When a member +left, he would fill his pockets with cigars or with bottles of drink. +Forty different brands of beverages were paid for by the state for the +private use of members, and all sorts of food, furniture, and clothing +were sent to the houses of members and were paid for by the state as +"legislative supplies." On the bills appeared such items as imported +mushrooms, one side of bacon, one feather bed, bustles, two pairs of +extra long stockings, one pair of garters, one bottle perfume, twelve +monogram cut glasses, one horse, one comb and brush, three gallons of +whisky, one pair of corsets. During the recess, supplies were sent out +to the rural homes of the members. + +The endorsement of railroad securities by the state also furnished +a source of easy money to the dishonest official and the crooked +speculator. After the Civil War, in response to the general desire in +the South for better railroad facilities, the "Johnson" governments +began to underwrite railroad bonds. When the carpetbag and Negro +governments came in, the policy was continued but without proper +safeguards. Bonds were sometimes endorsed before the roads were +constructed, and even excess issues were authorized. Bonds were endorsed +for some roads of which not a mile was ever built. The White River +Valley and Texas Railroad never came into existence, but it obtained +a grant of $175,000 from the State of Arkansas. Speaker Carter of the +Louisiana Legislature received a financial interest in all railroad +endorsement bills which he steered through the House. Negro members were +regularly bribed to vote for the bond steals. A witness swore that in +Louisiana it cost him $80,000 to get a railroad charter passed, but that +the Governor's signature cost more than the consent of the legislature. + +When the roads defaulted on the payment of interest, as most of them +did, the burden fell upon the state. Not all of the blame for this +perverted legislation should be placed upon the corrupt legislators, +however, for the lawyers who saw the bills through were frequently +Southern Democrats representing supposedly respectable Northern +capitalists. The railroads as well as the taxpayers suffered from this +pernicious lobbying, for the companies were loaded with debts and rarely +profited by the loans. Valuation of railroad property rapidly decreased. +The roads of Alabama which were valued in 1871 at $26,000,000 had +decreased in 1875 to $9,500,000. + +The foundation of radical power in the South lay in the alienation of +the races which had been accomplished between 1865 and 1868. To maintain +this unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effective means in +the Negro militia. Under the constitution of every reconstructed state, +a Negro constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, North +Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to +risk the dangers of arming the blacks. No governor dared permit the +Southern whites to organize as militia. In South Carolina the carpetbag +governor, Robert K. Scott, enrolled ninety-six thousand Negroes as +members of the militia and organized and armed twenty thousand of +them. The few white companies were ordered to disband. In Louisiana the +governor had a standing army of blacks called the Metropolitan Guard. In +several states the Negro militia was used as a constabulary and was sent +to any part of the state to make arrests. + +In spite of this provocation there were, after the riots of 1866-67, +comparatively few race conflicts until reconstruction was drawing to +a close. The intervening period was filled with the more peaceful +activities of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Camellia. But as the +whites made up their minds to get rid of Negro rule, the clashes came +frequently and always ended in the death of more Negroes than whites.* +They would probably have continued with serious consequences if the +whites had not eventually secured control of the government. + + * Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisiana at + Colfax, Coushatta, and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at + Vicksburg and Clinton, Mississippi, in 1874-75. + + +The lax election laws, framed indeed for the benefit of the party in +power, gave the radicals ample opportunity to control the Negro vote. +The elections were frequently corrupt, though not a great deal of money +was spent in bribery. It was found less expensive to use other methods +of getting out the vote. The Negroes were generally made to understand +that the Democrats wanted to put them back into slavery, but sometimes +the leaders deemed it wiser to state more concretely that "Jeff Davis +had come to Montgomery and is ready to organize the Confederacy again" +if the Democrats should win; or to say that "if Carter is elected, he +will not allow your wives and daughters to wear hoopskirts." In Alabama +many thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to be distributed +among "flood sufferers" in a region which had not been flooded since +the days of Noah. The Negroes were told that they must vote right and +receive enough bacon for a year, or "lose their rights" if they voted +wrongly. Ballot-box stuffing developed into an art, and each Negro was +carefully inspected to see that he had the right kind of ticket before +he was marched to the polls. + +The inspection and counting of election returns were in the hands of +the county and state boards, which were controlled by the governor, and +which had authority to throw out or count in any number of votes. On +the assumption that the radicals were entitled to all Negro votes, the +returning boards followed the census figures for the black population in +order to arrive at the minimum radical vote. The action of the returning +boards was specially flagrant in Louisiana and Florida and in the black +counties of South Carolina. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the very best arrangements had been made +at Washington and in the states for the running of the radical machine, +everywhere there were factional fights from the beginning. Usually the +scalawags declared hostilities after they found that the carpetbaggers +had control of the Negroes and the inside track on the way to the best +state and federal offices. Later, after the scalawags had for the most +part left the radicals, there were contests among the carpetbaggers +themselves for the control of the Negro vote and the distribution of +spoils. The defeated faction usually joined the Democrats. In Arkansas +a split started in 1869 which by 1872 resulted in two state governments. +Alabama in 1872 and Louisiana in 1874-75 each had two rival governments. +This factionalism contributed largely to the overthrow of the radicals. + +The radical structure, however, was still powerfully supported from +without. Relations between the Federal Government and the state +governments in the South were close, and the policy at Washington was +frequently determined by conditions in the South. President Grant, +though at first considerate, was usually consistently radical in his +Southern policy. This attitude is difficult to explain except by saying +that Grant fell under the control of radical advisers after his break +with Johnson, that his military instincts were offended by opposition +in the South which his advisers told him was rebellious, and that he was +impressed by the need of holding the Southern radical vote against +the inroads of the Democrats. After about 1869, Grant never really +understood the conditions in the South. He was content to control by +means of Federal troops and thousands of deputy marshals. For this +policy the Ku Klux activities gave sufficient excuse for a time, and the +continued story of "rebel outrages" was always available to justify +a call for soldiers or deputies. The enforcement legislation gave the +color of law to any interference which was deemed necessary. + +Federal troops served other ends than the mere preservation of order and +the support of the radical state governments. They were used on occasion +to decide between opposing factions and to oust conservatives who had +forced their way into office. The army officers purged the Legislature +of Georgia in 1870, that of Alabama in 1872, and that of Louisiana in +1875. In 1875 the city government of Vicksburg and the state government +of Louisiana were overturned by the whites, but General Sheridan at once +intervened to put back the Negroes and carpetbaggers. He suggested to +President Grant that the conservatives be declared "banditti" and he +would make himself responsible for the rest. As soon as a State showed +signs of going over to the Democrats or an important election was lost +by the radicals, one House or the other of Congress in many instances +sent an investigation committee to ascertain the reasons. The Committees +on the Condition of the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States +were nearly always ready with reports to establish the necessity of +intervention. + +Besides the army there was in every state a powerful group of Federal +officials who formed a "ring" for the direction of all good radicals. +These marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and +customhouse officials were in close touch with Washington and frequently +dictated nominations and platforms. At New Orleans the officials acted +as a committee on credentials and held all the state conventions under +their control in the customhouse. + +Such was the machinery used to sustain a party which, with the gradual +defection of the whites, became throughout the South almost +uniformly black. At first few Negroes asked for offices, but soon the +carpetbaggers found it necessary to divide with the rapidly growing +number of Negro politicians. No Negro was elected governor, though +several reached the office of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, +auditor, superintendent of education, justice of the state supreme +court, and fifteen were elected to Congress.* It would not be correct +to say that the Negro race was malicious or on evil bent. Unless +deliberately stirred up by white leaders, few Negroes showed signs +of mean spirit. Few even made exorbitant demands. They wanted +"something"--schools and freedom and "something else," they knew not +what. Deprived of the leadership of the best whites, they could not +possibly act with the scalawags--their traditional enemies. Nothing was +left for them but to follow the carpetbagger. + + * Revels, Lynch, and Bruce represent the better Negro + officeholders; Pinchback, Rainey, and Nash, the less + respectable ones; and below these were the rascals whose + ambition was to equal their white preceptors in corruption. + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE KU KLUX MOVEMENT + +The Ku Klux movement, which took the form of secret revolutionary +societies, grew out of a general conviction among the whites that the +reconstruction policies were impossible and not to be endured. Somers, +an English traveler, says that at this time "nearly every respectable +white man in the Southern States was not only disfranchised but under +fear of arrest or confiscation; the old foundations of authority were +utterly razed before any new ones had yet been laid, and in the dark and +benighted interval the remains of the Confederate armies--swept after +a long and heroic day of fair fight from the field--flitted before the +eyes of the people in this weird and midnight shape of a Ku Klux Klan." +Ryland Randolph, an Alabama editor who was also an official of the Klan, +stated in his paper that "the origin of Ku Klux Klan is in the galling +despotism that broods like a nightmare over these Southern States--a +fungus growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of Loyal +Leagues, the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our +national Constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, +all resources and all powers, to degrade the white man by the +establishment of Negro supremacy." + +The secret orders, regardless of their original purposes, were all +finally to be found opposing radical reconstruction. Everywhere their +objects were the same: to recover for the white race their former +control of society and government, and to destroy the baneful influence +of the alien among the blacks. The people of the South were by law +helpless to take steps towards setting up any kind of government in a +land infested by a vicious element--Federal and Confederate deserters, +bushwhackers, outlaws of every description, and Negroes, some of whom +proved insolent and violent in their newly found freedom. Nowhere +was property or person safe, and for a time many feared a Negro +insurrection. General Hardee said to his neighbors, "I advise you to get +ready for what may come. We are standing over a sleeping volcano." + +To cope with this situation ante-bellum patrols--the "patter-rollers" +as the Negroes called them--were often secretly reorganized. In each +community for several months after the Civil War, and in many of them +for months before the end of the war, there were informal vigilance +committees. Some of these had such names as the Black Cavalry and Men of +Justice in Alabama, the Home Guards in many other places, while the +anti Confederate societies of the war, the Heroes of America, the Red +Strings, and the Peace Societies, transformed themselves in certain +localities into regulatory bodies. Later these secret societies numbered +scores, perhaps hundreds, varying from small bodies of local police to +great federated bodies which covered almost the entire South and even +had membership in the North and West. Other important organizations were +the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Faces, the White Brotherhood, +the Council of Safety, the '76 Association, the Sons of '76, the +Order of the White Rose, and the White Boys. As the fight against +reconstruction became bolder, the orders threw off their disguises and +appeared openly as armed whites fighting for the control of society. +The White League of Louisiana, the White Line of Mississippi, the White +Man's party of Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs of South Carolina, were +later manifestations of the general Ku Klux movement. + +The two largest secret orders, however, were the Ku Klux Klan, from +which the movement took its name, and the Knights of the White Camelia. +The Ku Klux Klan originated at Pulaski, Tennessee, in the autumn of +1865, as a local organization for social purposes. The founders were +young Confederates, united for fun and mischief. The name was an +accidental corruption of the Greek word Kuklos, a circle. The officers +adopted queer sounding titles and strange disguises. Weird nightriders +in ghostly attire thoroughly frightened the superstitious Negroes, +who were told that the spirits of dead Confederates were abroad. This +terrorizing of the blacks successfully provided the amusement which the +founders desired, and there were many applications for admission to the +society. The Pulaski Club, or Den, was in the habit of parading in full +uniform at social gatherings of the whites at night, much to the delight +of the small boys and girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, and +many of the young men of Alabama who saw these parades or heard of them +organized similar Dens in the towns of Northern Alabama. Nothing but +horseplay, however, took place at the meetings. In 1867 and 1868, the +order appeared in parade in the towns of the adjoining states and, as we +are told, "cut up curious gyrations" on the public squares. + +There was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose +behind all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; many joined the order +convinced that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities of +using it as a means of terrorizing the Negroes. After men discovered +the power of the Klan over the Negroes, indeed, they were generally +inclined, owing to the disordered conditions of the time, to act as a +sort of police patrol and to hold in check the thieving Negroes, the +Union League, and the "loyalists." In this way, from being merely a +number of social clubs the Dens swiftly became bands of regulators, +taking on many new fantastic qualities along with their new seriousness +of purpose. Some of the more ardent spirits led the Dens far in the +direction of violence and outrage. Attempts were made by the parent +Den at Pulaski to regulate the conduct of the others, but, owing to +the loose organization, the effort met with little success. Some of the +Dens, indeed, lost all connection with the original order. + +A general organization of these societies was perfected at a convention +held in Nashville in May 1867, just as the Reconstruction Acts were +being put into operation. A constitution called the Prescript was +adopted which provided for a national organization. The former slave +states, except Delaware, constituted the Empire, which was ruled by +the Grand Wizard (then General Forrest) with a staff of ten Genii; +each State was a realm under a Grand Dragon and eight Hydras; the next +subdivision was a Dominion, consisting of several counties, ruled by +a Grand Titan and six Furies; the county or Province was governed by +a Grand Giant and four Goblins; the unit was the Den or community +organization, of which there might be several in each county, each under +a Grand Cyclops and two Nighthawks. The Genii, Hydras, Furies, Goblins, +and Nighthawks were staff officers. The private members were called +Ghouls. The order had no name, and at first was designated by two stars +(**), later by three (***). Sometimes it was called the Invisible Empire +of Ku Klux Klan. + +Any white man over eighteen might be admitted to the Den after +nomination by a member and strict investigation by a committee. The +oath demanded obedience and secrecy. The Dens governed themselves by the +ordinary rules of deliberative bodies. The punishment for betrayal of +secrecy was "the extreme penalty of the Law." None of the secrets was to +be written, and there was a "Register" of alarming adjectives, such +as terrible, horrible, furious, doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, +gloomy, which was used as a cipher code in dating the odd Ku Klux +orders. + +The general objects of the order were thus set forth in the revised +Prescript: first, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless +from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, +and the brutal; to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the +suffering and unfortunate, and especially the widows and orphans of +Confederate soldiers; second, to protect and defend the Constitution +of the United States and all laws passed in conformity thereto, and to +protect the States and people thereof from all invasion from any +source whatever; third, to aid and assist in the execution of all +"constitutional" laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, +and from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land. +But the tests for admission gave further indication of the objects of +the order. No Republican, no Union Leaguer, and no member of the G. +A. R. might become a member. The members were pledged to oppose Negro +equality of any kind, to favor emancipation of the Southern whites +and the restoration of their rights, and to maintain constitutional +government and equitable laws. + +Prominent men testified that the order became popular because the whites +felt that they were persecuted and that there was no legal protection, +no respectable government. General (later Senator) Pettus said that +through all the workings of the Federal Government ran the principle +that "we are an inferior, degraded people and not fit to be trusted." +General Clanton of Alabama further explained that "there is not a +respectable white woman in the Negro Belt of Alabama who will trust +herself outside of her house without some protector.... So far as our +State Government is concerned, we are in the hands of camp-followers, +horse-holders, cooks, bottle-washers, and thieves.. .. We have passed +out from the hands of the brave soldiers who overcame us, and are +turned over to the tender mercies of squaws for torture.... I see Negro +police--great black fellows--leading white girls around the streets of +Montgomery, and locking them up in jails." + +The Klan first came into general prominence in 1868 with the report +of the Federal commanders in the South concerning its activities. Soon +after that date the order spread through the white counties of the +South, in many places absorbing the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces, +and some other local organizations which had been formed in the upper +part of the Black Belt. But it was not alone in the field. The order +known as the Knights of the White Camelia, founded in Louisiana in 1867 +and formally organized in 1868, spread rapidly over the lower South +until it reached the territory occupied by the Ku Klux Klan. It was +mainly a Black Belt order, and on the whole had a more substantial and +more conservative membership than the other large secret bodies. Like +the Ku Klux Klan, it also absorbed several minor local societies. + +The White Camelia had a national organization with headquarters in New +Orleans. Its business was conducted by a Supreme Council of the United +States, with Grand, Central, and Subordinate Councils for each state, +county, and community. All communication within the order took place by +passwords and cipher; the organization and the officers were similar to +those of the Ku Klux Klan; and all officers were designated by initials. +An ex-member states that "during the three years of its existence here +[Perry County, Alabama] I believe its organization and discipline were +as perfect as human ingenuity could have made it." The fundamental +object of the White Camelia was the "maintenance of the supremacy of the +white race," and to this end the members were constrained "to observe a +marked distinction between the races" and to restrain the "African race +to that condition of social and political inferiority for which God +has destined it." The members were pledged to vote only for whites, +to oppose Negro equality in all things, but to respect the legitimate +rights of Negroes. + +The smaller orders were similar in purpose and organization to the Ku +Klux Klan and the White Camelia. Most of them joined or were affiliated +with the large societies. Probably a majority of the men of the South +were associated at some time during this period with these revolutionary +bodies. As a rule the politicians, though approving, held aloof. Public +opinion generally supported the movement so long as the radicals made +serious attempts to carry out the reconstruction policies. + +The task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the +blacks and their leaders in order that honor, life, and property might +be secure. They planned to accomplish this aim by playing upon the +fears, superstitions, and cowardice of the black race--in a word, by +creating a white terror to counteract the black one. To this end they +made use of strange disguises, mysterious and fearful conversation, +midnight rides and drills, and silent parades. As long as secrecy and +mystery were to be effective in dealing with the Negroes, costume was +an important matter. These disguises varied with the locality and often +with the individual. High cardboard hats, covered with white cloth often +decorated with stars or pictures of animals, white masks with holes +cut for eyes, nose and mouth bound with red braid to give a horrible +appearance, and frequently a long tongue of red flannel so fixed that +it could be moved with the wearer's tongue, and a long white robe--these +made up a costume which served at the same time as a disguise and as a +means of impressing the impressionable Negro. Horses were covered with +sheets or white cloth held on by the saddle and by belts, and sometimes +the animals were even painted. Skulls of sheep and cattle, and even of +human beings were often carried on the saddlebows to add another element +of terror. A framework was sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a +Ghoul which caused him to appear twelve feet high. A skeleton wooden +hand at the end of a stick served to greet terrified Negroes at +midnight. For safety every man carried a small whistle and a brace of +pistols. + +The trembling Negro who ran into a gathering of the Ku Klux on his +return from a Loyal League meeting was informed that the white-robed +figures he saw were the spirits of the Confederate dead killed at +Chickamauga or Shiloh, now unable to rest in their graves because of +the conduct of the Negroes. He was told in a sepulchral voice of the +necessity for his remaining more at home and taking a less active part +in predatory excursions abroad. In the middle of the night, a sleeping +Negro might wake to find his house surrounded by a ghostly company, or +to see several terrifying figures standing by his bedside. They were, +they said, the ghosts of men whom he had formerly known. They had +scratched through from Hell to warn the Negroes of the consequences of +their misconduct. Hell was a dry and thirsty land; and they asked him +for water. Bucket after bucket of water disappeared into a sack of +leather, rawhide, or rubber, concealed within the flowing robe. The +story is told of one of these night travelers who called at the cabin +of a radical Negro in Attakapas County, Louisiana. After drinking three +buckets of water to the great astonishment of the darky, the traveler +thanked him and told him that he had traveled nearly a thousand miles +within twenty-four hours, and that that was the best water he had tasted +since he was killed at the battle of Shiloh. The Negro dropped the +bucket, overturned chairs and table in making his escape through the +window, and was never again seen or heard of by residents of that +community. Another incident is told of a parade in Pulaski, Tennessee: +"While the procession was passing a corner on which a Negro man was +standing, a tall horseman in hideous garb turned aside from the line, +dismounted and stretched out his bridle rein toward the Negro, as if +he desired him to hold his horse. Not daring to refuse, the frightened +African extended his hand to grasp the rein. As he did so, the Ku Klux +took his own head from his shoulders and offered to place that also in +the outstretched hand. The Negro stood not upon the order of his going, +but departed with a yell of terror. To this day he will tell you: 'He +done it, suah, boss. I seed him do it.'" + +It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence, for +the black population was in an ecstasy of fear. A silent host of +white-sheeted horsemen parading the country roads at night was +sufficient to reduce the blacks to good behavior for weeks or months. +One silent Ghoul posted near a meeting place of the League would be the +cause of the immediate dissolution of that club. Cow bones in a sack +were rattled within earshot of the terrified Negroes. A horrible +being, fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward a place of +congregation, was very likely to find that every one had vacated the +place before he arrived. A few figures wrapped in sheets and sitting +on tombstones in a graveyard near which Negroes were accustomed to pass +would serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks and give the +locality a reputation for "hants" which lasted long. + +To prevent detection on parade, members of the Klan often stayed out +of the parade in their own town and were to be seen freely and +conspicuously mingling with the spectators. A man who believed that he +knew every horse in the vicinity and was sure that he would be able to +identify the riders by their horses was greatly surprised upon lifting +the disguise of the horse nearest him to find the animal upon which +he himself had ridden into town a short while before. The parades were +always silent and so arranged as to give the impression of very large +numbers. In the regular drills which were held in town and country, the +men showed that they had not forgotten their training in the Confederate +army. There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a mysterious +language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used. + +Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until +the carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the +Reconstruction Acts. Then more violent methods were necessary. The +Mans patrolled disturbed communities, visited, warned, and frightened +obnoxious individuals, whipped some, and even hanged others. Until +forbidden by law or military order, the newspapers were accustomed to +print the mysterious proclamations of the Ku Klux. The following, which +was circulated in Montgomery, Alabama, in April 1868, is a typical +specimen: + +K. K. K. Clan of Vega. HDQRS K.K.K. HOSPITALLERS. + +Vega Clan, New Moon, 3rd Month, Anno K. K. K. 1. + +ORDER No. K. K. + +Clansmen--Meet at the Trysting Spot when Orion Kisses the Zenith. +The doom of treason is Death. Dies Irae. The wolf is on his walk--the +serpent coils to strike. Action! Action!! Action!!! By midnight and the +Tomb; by Sword and Torch and the Sacred Oath at Forrester's Altar, I +bid you come! The clansmen of Glen Iran and Alpine will greet you at the +new-made grave. + +Remember the Ides of April. + +By command of the Grand D. I. H. + +Cheg. V. + +The work of the secret orders was successful. As bodies of vigilantes, +the Mans and the Councils regulated the conduct of bad Negroes, +punished criminals who were not punished by the state, looked after the +activities and teachings of Northern preachers and teachers, dispersed +hostile gatherings of Negroes, and ran out of the community the worst of +the reconstructionist officials. They kept the Negroes quiet and freed +them to some extent from the influence of evil leaders. The burning of +houses, gins, mills, and stores ceased; property became more secure; +people slept safely at night; women and children walked abroad in +security; the incendiary agents who had worked among the Negroes left +the country; agitators, political, educational, and religious, became +more moderate; "bad niggers" ceased to be bad; labor became less +disorganized; the carpetbaggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the +Southern communities. It was not so much a revolution as the defeat of a +revolution. Society was replaced in the old historic grooves from which +war and reconstruction had jarred it. + +Successful as was the Ku Klux movement in these respects, it had at the +same time many harmful results. Too often local orders fell under the +control of reckless or lawless men and the Klan was then used as a cloak +to cover violence and thievery; family and personal feuds were carried +into the orders and fought out; and anti-Negro feeling in many places +found expression in activities designed to drive the blacks from +the country. It was easy for any outlaw to hide himself behind the +protection of a secret order. So numerous did these men become that +after 1868 there was a general exodus of the leading reputable members, +and in 1869 the formal disbanding of the Klan was proclaimed by General +Forrest, the Grand Wizard. The White Camelia and other orders also +gradually went out of existence. Numerous attempts were made to suppress +the secret movement by the military commanders, the state governments, +and finally by Congress, but none of these was entirely successful, for +in each community the secret opposition lasted as long as it was needed. +The political effects of the orders, however, survived their organized +existence. Some of the Southern States began to go Democratic in spite +of the Reconstruction Acts and the Amendments, and there was little +doubt that the Ku Klux movement had aided in this change. In order to +preserve the achievements of radical reconstruction Congress passed, +in 1870 and 1871, the enforcement acts which had been under debate for +nearly two years. The first act (May 31, 1870) was designed to protect +the Negro's right to vote and was directed at individuals as well as +against states. Section six, indeed, was aimed specifically at the +Ku Klux Klan. This act was a long step in the direction of giving the +Federal Government control over state elections. But as North Carolina +went wholly and Alabama partially Democratic in 1870, a Supplementary +Act (February 28, 1871) went further and placed the elections for +members of Congress completely under Federal control, and also +authorized the use of thousands of deputy marshals at elections. As the +campaign of 1872 drew near, Grant and his advisers became solicitous +to hold all the Southern States which had not been regained by the +Democrats. Accordingly, on March 23, 1871, the President sent a message +to Congress declaring that in some of the states the laws could not be +enforced and asked for remedial legislation. Congress responded with an +act (April 20, 1871), commonly called the "Ku Klux Act," which gave +the President despotic military power to uphold the remaining Negro +governments and authorized him to declare a state of war when he +considered it necessary. Of this power Grant made use in only one +instance. In October 1871, he declared nine counties of South Carolina +in rebellion and put them under martial law. + +During the ten years following 1870, several thousand arrests were made +under the enforcement acts and about 1,250 convictions were secured, +principally in Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and +Tennessee. Most of these violations of election laws, however, had +nothing to do with the Ku Klux movement, for by 1870 the better class of +members had withdrawn from the secret orders. But though the enforcement +acts checked these irregularities to a considerable extent, they +nevertheless failed to hold the South for the radicals and essential +parts of them were declared unconstitutional a few years later. + +In order to justify the passage of the enforcement acts and to obtain +campaign material for use in 1872, Congress appointed a committee, +organized on the very day when the Ku Klux Act was approved, to +investigate conditions in the Southern States. From June to August +1871, the committee took testimony in Washington, and in the fall +subcommittees visited several Southern States. Tennessee, Virginia, +Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were, however, omitted from the +investigation. Notwithstanding the partisan purpose and methods of +the investigation, the report of the committee and the accompanying +testimony constituted a Democratic rather than a Republican document. +It is a veritable mine of information about the South between 1865 +and 1871. The Democratic minority members made skillful use of their +opportunity to expose conditions in the South. They were less concerned +to meet the charges made against the Ku Klux Klan than to show why such +movements came about. The Republicans, concerned mainly about material +for the presidential campaign, neglected the broader phases of the +situation. + +Opposition to the effects of reconstruction did not come to an end +with the dissolution of the more famous orders. On the contrary, it now +became public and open and resulted in the organization, after 1872, of +the White League, the Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, the White Man's Party +in Alabama, and the Rifle Clubs in South Carolina. The later movements +were distinctly but cautiously anti-Negro. There was most irritation +in the white counties where there were large numbers of Negroes. Negro +schools and churches were burned because they served as meeting places +for Negro political organizations. The color line began to be more +and more sharply drawn. Social and business ostracism continued to be +employed against white radicals, while the Negroes were discharged from +employment or were driven from their rented farms. + +The Ku Klux movement, it is to be noted in retrospect, originated as an +effort to restore order in the war-stricken Southern States. The +secrecy of its methods appealed to the imagination and caused its +rapid expansion, and this secrecy was inevitable because opposition to +reconstruction was not lawful. As the reconstruction policies were put +into operation, the movement became political and used violence when +appeals to superstitious fears ceased to be effective. The Ku Klux Klan +centered, directed, and crystallized public opinion, and united the +whites upon a platform of white supremacy. The Southern politicians +stood aloof from the movement but accepted the results of its work. +It frightened the Negroes and bad whites into better conduct, and +it encouraged the conservatives and aided them to regain control of +society, for without the operations of the Klan the black districts +would never have come again under white control. Towards the end, +however, its methods frequently became unnecessarily violent and did +great harm to Southern society. The Ku Klux system of regulating society +is as old as history; it had often been used before; it may even be used +again. When a people find themselves persecuted by aliens under legal +forms, they will invent some means outside the law for protecting +themselves; and such experiences will inevitably result in a weakening +of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of justice. + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE CHANGING SOUTH + +"The bottom rail is on top" was a phrase which had flashed throughout +the late Confederate States. It had been coined by the Negroes in +1867 to express their view of the situation, but its aptness had been +recognized by all. After ten years of social and economic revolution, +however, it was not so clear that the phrase of 1867 correctly described +the new situation. "The white man made free" would have been a more +accurate epitome, for the white man had been able, in spite of his +temporary disabilities, to compete with the Negro in all industries. + +It will be remembered that the Negro districts were least exposed to the +destruction of war. The well-managed plantation, lying near the highways +of commerce, with its division of labor, nearly or quite self-sufficing, +was the bulwark of the Confederacy. When the fighting ended, an +industrial revolution began in these untouched parts of the Black Belt. +The problem of free Negro labor now appeared. During the year 1865, no +general plan for a labor system was formulated except by the Freedmen's +Bureau. That, however, was not a success. There were all sorts of +makeshifts, such as cash wages, deferred wages, cooperation, even +sharing of expense and product, and contracts, either oral or written. + +The employers showed a disposition to treat the Negro family as a unit +in making contracts for labor, wages, food, clothes, and care.* In +general these early arrangements were made to transform slavery with its +mutual duties and obligations into a free labor system with wages and +"privileges." The "privileges" of slavery could not be destroyed; in +fact, they have never yet been destroyed in numerous places. Curious +demands were made by the Negroes: here, farm bells must not ring; there, +overseers or managers must be done away with; in some places plantation +courts were to settle matters of work, rent, and conduct; elsewhere, +agreements were made that on Saturday the laborer should be permitted to +go to town and, perhaps, ride a mule or horse. In South Carolina the +Sea Island Negroes demanded that in laying out work the old "tasks" +or "stints" of slavery days be retained as the standard. The farming +districts at the edge of the Black Belt, where the races were about +equal in numbers, already had a kind of "share system," and in these +sections the economic chaos after the war was not so complete. The +former owners worked in the field with their ex-slaves and thus provided +steady employment for many. Farms were rented for a fixed sum of money, +or for a part of the crop, or on "shares." + + * J. D. B. De Bow, the economist, testified before the Joint + Committee on Reconstruction that, if the Negro would work, + free labor would be better for the planters than slave + labor. He called attention to the fact, however, that Negro + women showed a desire to avoid field labor, and there is + also evidence to show that they objected to domestic service + and other menial work. + + +The white districts, which had previously fought a losing competition +with the efficiently managed and inexpensive slave labor of the Black +Belt, were affected most disastrously by war and its aftermath. They +were distant from transportation lines and markets; they employed poor +farming methods; they had no fertilizers; they raised no staple crops +on their infertile land; and in addition they now had to face the +destitution that follows fighting. Yet these regions had formerly been +almost self-supporting, although the farms were small and no elaborate +labor system had been developed. In the planting districts where the +owner was land-poor, he made an attempt to bring in Northern capital +and Northern or foreign labor. In the belief that the Negroes would +work better for a Northern man, every planter who could do so secured +a Northern partner or manager, frequently a soldier. Nevertheless these +imported managers nearly always failed because they did not understand +cotton, rice, or sugar planting, and because they were either too severe +or too easy upon the blacks. + +No Northern labor was to be had, and the South could not retain even all +its own native whites. Union soldiers and others seeking to better their +prospects moved west and northwest to fill the newly opened lands, while +the Confederates, kept out of the homestead region by the test oath, +swarmed into Texas, which owned its own public lands, or went North +to other occupations. Nor could the desperate planters hire foreign +immigrants. Several states, among them South Carolina, Alabama, and +Louisiana, advertised for laborers and established labor bureaus, but +without avail. The Negro politicians in 1867 declared themselves opposed +to all movements to foster immigration. So in the Black Belt the Negro +had, for forty years, a monopoly of farm labor. + +The share system of tenantry, with its attendant evils of credit and +crop lien, was soon established in the Southern States, mainly in the +Black Belt, but to some extent also in the white districts. The landlord +furnished land, house, fuel, water, and all or a part of the seed, +fertilizer, farm implements, and farm animals. In return he received a +"half," or a "third and fourth," his share depending upon how much he +had furnished. The best class of tenants would rent for cash or a fixed +rental, the poorest laborers would work for wages only. + +The "privileges" brought over from slavery, which were included in the +share renting, astonished outside observers. To the laborer was usually +given a house, a water supply, wood for fuel, pasture for pigs or cows, +a "patch" for vegetables and fruit, and the right to hunt and fish. +These were all that some needed in order to live. Somers, the English +traveler already quoted, pronounced this generous custom "outrageously +absurd," for the Negroes had so many privileges that they refused to +make use of their opportunities. "The soul is often crushed out of labor +by penury and oppression," he said, "but here a soul cannot begin to be +infused into it through the sheer excess of privilege and license with +which it is surrounded." The credit system which was developed beside +the share system made a bad condition worse. On the 1st of January, +a planter could mortgage his future crop to a merchant or landlord in +exchange for subsistence until the harvest. Since, as a rule, neither +tenant nor landlord had any surplus funds, the latter would be supplied +by the banker or banker merchant, who would then dictate the crops to +be planted and the time of sale. As a result of these conditions, the +planter or farmer was held to staple crops, high prices for necessities, +high interest rate, and frequently unfair bookkeeping. The system +was excellent for a thrifty, industrious, and intelligent man, for it +enabled him to get a start. It worked to the advantage of a bankrupt +landlord, who could in this way get banking facilities. But it had a +mischievous effect upon the average tenant, who had too small a share +of the crop to feel a strong sense of responsibility as well as too many +"privileges" and too little supervision to make him anxious to produce +the best results. + +The Negroes entered into their freedom with several advantages: they +were trained to labor; they were occupying the most fertile soil and +could purchase land at low prices; the tenant system was most liberal; +cotton, sugar, and rice were bringing high prices; and access to +markets was easy. In the white districts, land was cheap and prices +of commodities were high, but otherwise the Negroes seemed to have the +better position. Yet as early as 1870, keen observers called attention +to the fact that the hill and mountain whites were thriving as compared +with their former condition, and that the Negroes were no longer their +serious competitors. In the white districts, better methods were coming +into use, labor was steady, fertilizers were used, and conditions of +transportation were improving. The whites were also encroaching on the +Black Belt; they were opening new lands in the Southwest; and within +the border of the Black Belt they were bringing Negro labor under some +control. In the South Carolina rice lands, crowds of Irish were imported +to do the ditching which the Negroes refused to do and were carried +back North when the job was finished.* President Thach of the Alabama +Agricultural College has thus described the situation: + + * The Census of 1880 gave proof of the superiority of the + whites in cotton production. For purposes of comparison the + cotton area may be divided into three regions: first, the + Black Belt, in which the farmers were black, the soil + fertile, the plantations large, the credit evil at its + worst, and the yield of cotton per acre the least; second, + the white districts, where the soil was the poorest, the + farms small, the workers nearly all white, and the yield per + acre better than on the fertile Black Belt lands; third, the + regions in which the races were nearly equal in numbers or + where the whites were in a slight majority, with soil of + medium fertility, good methods of agriculture, and, owing to + better controlled labor, the best yield. In ether words, + Negroes, fertile soil, and poor crops went together; and on + the other hand the whites got better crops on less fertile + soil. The Black Belt has never again reached the level of + production it had in 1880. But the white district kept + improving slowly. + +"By the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered +barren have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford +a more reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the +old slave plantations. In nearly every agricultural county in the South +there is to be observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, +once the heart, of the old civilization, now abandoned by the whites, +held in tenantry by a dense Negro population, full of dilapidation and +ruin; while on the other hand, there is the region of light, thin soils, +occupied by the small white freeholder, filled with schools, churches, +and good roads, and all the elements of a happy, enlightened country +life." + +All the systems devised for handling Negro labor proved to be only +partially successful. The laborer was migratory, wanted easy work, with +one or two holidays a week, and the privilege of attending political +meetings, camp meetings, and circuses. A thrifty Negro could not +make headway because his fellows stole from him or his less energetic +relations and friends visited him and ate up his substance. One Alabama +planter declared that he could not raise a turkey, a chicken, a hog, or +a cow; and another asserted that "a hog has no more chance to live among +these thieving Negro farmers than a June bug in a gang of puddle ducks." +Lands were mortgaged to the supply houses in the towns, the whites +gradually deserted the country, and many rice and cotton fields grew up +in weeds. Crop stealing at night became a business which no legislation +could ever completely stop. A traveler has left the following +description of "a model Negro farm" in 1874. The farmer purchased an old +mule on credit and rented land on shares or for so many bales of cotton; +any old tools were used; corn, bacon, and other supplies were bought on +credit, and a crop lien was given; a month later, corn and cotton were +planted on soil that was not well broken up; the Negro "would not pay +for no guano" to put on other people's land; by turns the farmer planted +and fished, plowed and hunted, hoed and frolicked, or went to "meeting." +At the end of the year he sold his cotton, paid part of his rent and +some of his debt, returned the mule to its owner, and sang: + +Nigger work hard all de year, White man tote de money. + +The great landholdings did not break up into small farms as was +predicted, though sales were frequent and in 1865 enormous amounts of +land were put on the market. After 1867, additional millions of acres +were offered at small prices, and tax and mortgage sales were numerous. +The result of these operations, however, was a change of landlords +rather than a breaking up of large plantations. New men, Negroes, +merchants, and Jews became landowners. The number of small farms +naturally increased but so in some instances did the land concentrated +into large holdings. + +It was inevitable that conditions of Negro life should undergo a +revolutionary change during the reconstruction. The serious matter of +looking out for himself and his family and of making a living dampened +the Negro's cheerful spirits. Released from the discipline of slavery +and often misdirected by the worst of teachers, the Negro race naturally +ran into excesses of petty criminality. Even under the reconstruction +governments the proportion of Negro to white criminals was about ten +to one. Theft was frequent; arson was the accepted means of revenge on +white people; and murder became common in the brawls of the city Negro +quarters. The laxness of the marriage relation worked special hardship +on the women and children in so many cases deserted by the head of the +family. + +Out of the social anarchy of reconstruction the Negroes emerged with +numerous organizations of their own which may have been imitations +of the Union League, the Lincoln Brotherhood, and the various church +organizations. These societies were composed entirely of blacks and +have continued with prolific reproduction to the present day. They were +characterized by high names, gorgeous regalia, and frequent parades. +"The Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity" and the "United +Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen" played a large, and on the +whole useful, part in Negro social life, teaching lessons of thrift, +insurance, cooperation, and mutual aid. + +The reconstructionists were not able in 1867-68 to carry through +Congress any provision for the social equality of the races, but in the +reconstructed states, the equal rights issue was alive throughout the +period. Legislation giving to the Negro equal rights in hotels, places +of amusements, and common carriers, was first enacted in Louisiana and +South Carolina. Frequently the carpetbaggers brought up the issue in +order to rid the radical ranks of the scalawags who were opposed to +equal rights. In Florida, for example, the carpetbaggers framed a +comprehensive Equal Rights Law, passed it, and presented it to Governor +Reed, who was known to be opposed to such legislation. He vetoed the +measure and thus lost the Negro support. Intermarriage with whites was +made legal in Louisiana and South Carolina and by court decision was +permitted in Alabama and Mississippi, but the Georgia Supreme Court +held it to be illegal. Mixed marriages were few, but these were made +occasions of exultation over the whites and of consequent ill feeling. + +Charles Sumner was a persistent agitator for equal rights. In 1871 he +declared in a letter to a South Carolina Negro convention that the race +must insist not only upon equality in hotels and on public carriers but +also in the schools. "It is not enough," he said, "to provide separate +accommodations for colored citizens even if in all respects as good +as those of other persons.... The discrimination is an insult and a +hindrance, and a bar, which not only destroys comfort and prevents +equality, but weakens all other rights. The right to vote will have new +security when your equal right in public conveyances, hotels, and common +schools, is at last established; but here you must insist for yourselves +by speech, petition, and by vote." The Southern whites began to develop +the "Jim Crow" theory of "separate but equal" accommodations. Senator +Hill of Georgia, for example, thought that hotels might have separate +divisions for the two races, and he cited the division in the churches +as proof that the Negro wanted separation. + +About 1874, it was plain that the last radical Congress was nearly +ready to enact social equality legislation. This fact turned many of the +Southern Unionist class back to the Democratic party, there to remain +for a long time. In 1875, as a sort of memorial to Sumner, Congress +passed the Civil Rights Act, which gave to Negroes equal rights in +hotels, places of amusement, on public carriers, and on juries. Some +Democratic leaders were willing to see such legislation enacted, because +in the first place, it would have little effect except in the Border and +Northern States, where it would turn thousands into the Democratic fold, +and in the second place, because they were sure that in time the Supreme +Court would declare the law unconstitutional. And so it happened. + +In regions where the more unprincipled radical leaders were in control, +the whites lived at times in fear of Negro uprisings. The Negroes were +armed and insolent, and the whites were few and widely scattered. Here +and there outbreaks occurred and individual whites and isolated families +suffered, but as a rule all such movements were crushed with much +heavier loss to the Negroes than to the better organized whites. +Nevertheless everlasting apprehension for the safety of women and +children kept the white men nervous. General Garnett Andrews remarked +about the situation in Mississippi: + +"I have never suffered such an amount of anguish and alarm in all my +life. I have served through the whole war as a soldier in the army of +Northern Virginia, and saw all of it; but I never did experience... the +fear and alarm and sense of danger which I felt that time. And this was +the universal feeling among the population, among the white people. I +think that both sides were alarmed and felt uneasy. It showed itself +upon the countenance of the people; it made many of them sick. Men +looked haggard and pale, after undergoing this sort of thing for six +weeks or a month, and I have felt when I laid [sic] down that neither +myself, nor my wife and children were in safety. I expected, and +honestly anticipated, and thought it highly probable, that I might be +assassinated and my house set on fire at any time." + +By the fires of reconstruction the whites were fused into a more +homogeneous society, social as well as political. The former +slaveholding class continued to be more considerate of the Negro than +were the poor whites; but, as misrule went on, all classes tended to +unite against the Negro in politics. They were tired of reconstruction, +new amendments, force bills, Federal troops--tired of being ruled as +conquered provinces by the incompetent and the dishonest. Every measure +aimed at the South seemed to them to mean that they were considered +incorrigible and unworthy of trust, and that they were being made to +suffer for the deeds of irresponsible whites. And, to make matters +worse, strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh +rebellion. "When the Jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their +charge of want of loyalty in the South because our people grumble back +a little seems to me as unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: +'Mamma, make Bob 'have hisself. He makes mouths at me every time I hit +him with my stick.'"* + + * Usually ascribed to General D. H. Hill of North Carolina, + and quoted in "The Land We Love", vol. 1, p. 146. + + +Probably this burden fell heavier on the young men, who had life before +them and who were growing up with diminished opportunities. Sidney +Lanier, then an Alabama school teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor: "Perhaps +you know that with us of the young generation in the South, since the +war, pretty much the whole of life has been merely not dying." Negro and +alien rule was a constant insult to the intelligence of the country. The +taxpayers were nonparticipants in the affairs of government. Some people +withdrew entirely from public life, went to their farms or plantations, +kept away from towns and from speechmaking, waiting for the end to come. +There were some who refused for several years to read the newspapers, so +unpleasant was the news. The good feeling produced by the magnanimity of +Grant at Appomattox was destroyed by the severity of his Southern policy +when he became President. There was no gratitude for any so-called +leniency of the North, no repentance for the war, no desire for +humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes, and no confession of wrong. The +insistence of the radicals upon obtaining a confession of depravity +only made things much worse. Scarcely a measure of Congress during +reconstruction was designed or received in a conciliatory spirit. + +The new generation of whites was poor, bitter because of persecution, +ill-educated, overworked, without a bright future, and shadowed by the +race problem. Though their new political leaders were shrewd, narrow, +conservative, honest, and parsimonious, the constant fighting of fire +with fire scorched all. In the bitter discipline of reconstruction, the +pleasantest side of Southern life came to an end. During the war and +the consequent reconstruction there was a marked change in Southern +temperament toward the severe. Hospitality declined; the old Southern +life had never been on a business basis, but the new Southern life +now adjusted itself to a stricter economy; the old individuality was +partially lost; but class distinctions were less obvious in a more +homogeneous society. The material evils of reconstruction may be only +temporary; state debts may be paid and wasted resources renewed; but +the moral and intellectual results of the revolution will be the more +permanent. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. RESTORATION OF HOME RULE + +The radical program of reconstruction ended after ten years in failure +rather because of a change in public opinion in the North than because +of the resistance of the Southern whites. The North of 1877, indeed, +was not the North of 1867. A more tolerant attitude toward the South +developed as the North passed through its own period of misgovernment +when all the large cities were subject to "ring rule" and corruption, +as in New York under "Boss" Tweed and in the District of Columbia +under "Boss" Shepherd. The Federal civil service was discredited by the +scandals connected with the Sanborn contracts, the Whisky Ring, and the +Star Routes, while some leaders in Congress were under a cloud from the +"Salary Grab" and Credit Mobilier disclosures.* + + * See "The Boss and the Machine", by Samuel P. Orth in "The + Chronicles of America". + + +The marvelous material development of the North and West also drew +attention away from sectional controversies. Settlers poured into the +plains beyond the Mississippi and the valleys of the Far West; new +industries sprang up; unsuspected mineral wealth was discovered; +railroads were built. Not only bankers but taxpaying voters took an +interest in the financial readjustments of the time. Many thousand +people followed the discussions over the funding and refunding of +the national debt, the retirement of the greenbacks, and the proposed +lowering of tariff duties. Yet the Black Friday episode of 1869, when +Jay Gould and James Fisk cornered the visible supply of gold, and the +panic of 1873 were indications of unsound financial conditions. + +These new developments and the new domestic problems which they involved +all tended to divert public thought from the old political issues +arising out of the war. Foreign relations, too, began to take on a new +interest. The Alabama claims controversy with England continued to hold +the public attention until finally settled by the Geneva Arbitration +in 1872. President Grant, as much of an expansionist as Seward, for two +years (1869-71) tried to secure Santo Domingo or a part of it for an +American naval base in the West Indies. But the United States had +race problems enough already and the Senate, led by Sumner, refused to +sanction the acquisition. Relations with Spain were frequently +strained on account of American filibustering expeditions to aid Cuban +insurgents. Spain repeatedly charged the United States with laxness +toward such violations of international law; and President Grant, seeing +no other way out, recommended in 1869 and again in 1870 that the Cuban +insurgents be recognized as belligerents, but still the Senate held +back. The climax came in 1873, when the Spanish authorities in Cuba +captured on the high seas the Virginius* with a filibustering expedition +on board and executed fifty-three of the crew and passengers, among them +eight Americans. For a time war seemed imminent, but Spain acted quickly +and effected a peaceable settlement. + + * See "The Path of Empire", by Carl Russell Fish (in "The + Chronicles of America"), p. 119. + + +It became evident soon after 1867 that the issues involved in +reconstruction were not in themselves sufficient to hold the North +solidly Republican. Toward Negro suffrage, for example, Northern public +opinion was on the whole unfriendly. In 1867, the Negro was permitted to +vote only in New York and in New England, except in Connecticut. Before +1869, Negro suffrage was rejected in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kansas, +Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Republicans in +their national platform of 1868 went only so far as to say that, while +Negro suffrage was to be forced upon the South, it must remain a local +question in the North. The Border States rapidly lined up with the white +South on matters of race, church, and politics. + +It was not until 1874, however, that the changing opinion was made +generally effective in the elections. The skillfully managed radical +organization held large majorities in every Congress from the +Thirty-ninth to the Forty-third, and the electoral votes in 1868 and +1879 seemed to show that the conservative opposition was insignificant. +But these figures do not tell the whole story. Even in 1864, when +Lincoln won by nearly half a million, the popular vote was as eighteen +to twenty-two, and four years later Grant, the most popular man in +the United States, had a majority of only three hundred thousand over +Seymour, and this majority and more came from the new Negro voters. +Four years later with about a million Negro voters available and an +opposition not pleased with its own candidate, Grant's majority reached +only seven hundred thousand. At no one time in elections did the North +pronounce itself in favor of all the reconstruction policies. The break, +signs of which were visible as early as 1869, came in 1874 when the +Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives. + +Strength was given to the opposition because of the dissatisfaction with +President Grant, who knew little about politics and politicians. He felt +that his Cabinet should be made up of personal friends, not of strong +advisers, and that the military ideal of administration was the proper +one. He was faithful but undiscriminating in his friendships and +frequently chose as his associates men of vulgar tastes and low motives; +and he showed a naive love of money and an undisguised admiration for +rich men such as Gould and Fisk. His appointees were often incompetent +friends or relatives, and his cynical attitude toward civil service +reform lost him the support of influential men. When forced by party +exigencies to select first-class men for his Cabinet, he still preferred +to go for advice to practical politicians. On the Southern question he +easily fell under control of the radicals, who in order to retain their +influence had only to convince his military mind that the South was +again in rebellion, and who found it easy to distract public opinion +from political corruption by "waving the bloody shirt." Dissatisfaction +with his Administration, it is true, was confined to the intellectuals, +the reformers, and the Democrats, but they were strong enough to defeat +him for a second term if they could only be organized. + +The Liberal Republican movement began in the West about 1869 with +demands for amnesty and for reform, particularly in the civil service, +and it soon spread rapidly over the North. When it became certain that +the "machine" would renominate Grant, the liberal movement became +an anti-Grant party. The "New Departure" Democrats gave comfort +and prospect of aid to the Liberal Republicans by declaring for a +constructive, forward-looking policy in place of reactionary opposition. +The Liberal chiefs were led to believe that the new Democratic leaders +would accept their platform and candidates in order to defeat Grant. The +principal candidates for the Liberal Republican nomination were Charles +Francis Adams, Lyman Trumbull, Gratz Brown, David Davis, and Horace +Greeley. Adams was the strongest candidate but was jockeyed out of place +and the nomination was given to Horace Greeley, able enough as editor of +the "New York Tribune" but impossible as a candidate for the presidency. +The Democratic party accepted him as their candidate also, although he +had been a lifelong opponent of Democratic principles and policies. But +disgusted Liberals either returned to the Republican ranks or stayed +away from the polls, and many Democrats did likewise. Under these +circumstances the reelection of Grant was a foregone conclusion. There +was certainly a potential majority against Grant, but the opposition +had failed to organize, while the Republican machine was in good working +order, the Negroes were voting, and the Enforcement Acts proved a great +aid to the Republicans in the Southern States. + +One good result of the growing liberal sentiment was the passage of +an Amnesty Act by Congress on May 22, 1872. By statute and by the +Fourteenth Amendment, Congress had refused to recognize the complete +validity of President Johnson's pardons and amnesty proclamations, +and all Confederate leaders who wished to regain political rights +had therefore to appeal to Congress. During the Forty-first Congress +(1869-71) more than three thousand Southerners were amnestied in order +that they might hold office. These, however, were for the most part +scalawags; the most respectable whites would not seek an amnesty which +they could secure only by self-stultification.* It was the pressure +of public opinion against white disfranchisement and the necessity for +meeting the Liberal Republican arguments which caused the passage of +the Act of 1872. By this act about 150,000 whites were reenfranchised, +leaving out only about five hundred of the most prominent of the old +regime, most of whom were never restored to citizenship. Both Robert E. +Lee and Jefferson Davis died disfranchised. + + * The machinery of government and politics was all in + radical hands--the carpetbaggers and scalawags, who were + numerous enough to fill practically all the offices. These + men were often able leaders and skillful managers, and they + did not intend to surrender control; and the black race was + obedient and furnished the votes. In 1868, with Virginia, + Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas unrepresented, the first + radical contingent in Congress from the South numbered 41, + of whom 10 out of 12 senators and 26 out of 32 + representatives were carpetbaggers. There were two lone + conservative Congressmen. A few months later, in 1869, there + were 64 radical representatives from the South, 20 senators + and 44 members of the House of Representatives. In 1877 this + number had dwindled to two senators and four + representatives. The difference between these figures + measures in some degree the extent of the undoing of + reconstruction within the period of Grant's Administration. + +How the Southern whites escaped from Negro domination has often been +told and may here be sketched only in outline. The first States regained +from radicalism were those in which the Negro population was small and +the black vote large enough to irritate but not to dominate. Although +Northern sentiment, excited by the stories of "Southern outrage," was +then unfavorable, the conservatives of the South, by organizing a "white +man's party" and by the use of Ku Klux methods, made a fight for social +safety which they won nearly everywhere, and, in addition, they gained +political control of several States--Tennessee in 1869, Virginia in +1869-1870, and North Carolina and Georgia in 1870. They almost won +Louisiana in 1868 and Alabama in 1870, but the alarmed radicals came +to the rescue of the situation with the Fifteenth Amendment and the +Enforcement Laws of 1870-1871. With more troops and a larger number of +deputy marshals, it seemed that the radicals might securely hold the +remaining states. Arrests of conservatives were numerous, plundering was +at its height, the Federal Government was interested and was friendly +to the new Southern rulers, and the carpetbaggers and scalawags feasted, +troubled only by the disposition of their Negro supporters to demand a +share of the spoils. Although the whites made little gain from 1870 to +1874, the states already rescued became more firmly conservative; white +counties here and there in the black states voted out the radicals; a +few more representatives of the whites got into Congress; and the Border +States ranged themselves more solidly with the conservatives. + +But while the Southern whites were becoming desperate under oppression, +public opinion in the North was at last beginning to affect politics. +The elections of 1874 resulted in a Democratic landslide of which +the Administration was obliged to take notice. Grant now grew more +responsive to criticism. In 1875 he replied to a request for troops to +hold down Mississippi: "The whole public are tired out with these annual +autumnal outbreaks in the South and the great majority are ready now +to condemn any interference on the part of the Government." As soon +as conditions in the South were better understood in the North, ready +sympathy and political aid were offered by many who had hitherto acted +with the radicals. The Ku Klux report as well as the newspaper writings +and the books of J. S. Pike and Charles Nordhoff, both former opponents +of slavery, opened the eyes of many to the evil results of Negro +suffrage. Some who had been considered friends of the Negro, now +believing that he had proven to be a political failure, coldly abandoned +him and turned their altruistic interests to other objects more likely +to succeed. Many real friends of the Negro were alarmed at the evils of +the reconstruction and were anxious to see the corrupt political leaders +deprived of further influence over the race. To others the constantly +recurring Southern problem was growing stale, and they desired to hear +less of it. Within the Republican party in each Southern State, there +were serious divisions over the spoils. First it was carpetbagger and +Negro against the scalawag; later, when the black leaders insisted that +those who furnished the votes must have the larger share of the rewards, +the fight became triangular. As a result, by 1874 the Republican +party in the South was split into factions and was deserted by a large +proportion of its white membership. + +The conservative whites, fiercely resentful after their experiences +under the enforcement laws and hopeful of Northern sympathy, now planned +a supreme effort to regain their former power. Race lines were more +strictly drawn; ostracism of all that was radical became the rule; the +Republican party in the South, it was apparent, was doomed to be only +a Negro party weighed down by the scandal of bad government; the state +treasuries were bankrupt, and there was little further opportunity +for plunder. These considerations had much to do with the return of +scalawags to the "white man's party" and the retirement of carpetbaggers +from Southern politics. There was no longer anything in it, they said; +let the Negro have it! + +It was under these conditions that the "white man's party" carried the +elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in 1874, and Mississippi +in 1875. Asserting that it was a contest between civilization and +barbarism, and that the whites under the radical regime had no +opportunity to carry an election legally, the conservatives openly made +use of every method of influencing the result that could possibly come +within the radical law and they even employed many effective methods +that lay outside the law. Negroes were threatened with discharge from +employment and whites with tar and feathers if they voted the radical +ticket; there were nightriding parties, armed and drilled "white +leagues," and mysterious firing of guns and cannon at night; much +plain talk assailed the ears of the radical leaders; and several bloody +outbreaks occurred, principally in Louisiana and Mississippi. Louisiana +had been carried by the Democrats in the fall of 1872, but the radical +returning board had reversed the election. In 1874 the whites rose in +rebellion and turned out Kellogg, the usurping Governor, but President +Grant intervened to restore him to office. The "Mississippi" or +"shot-gun plan"* was very generally employed, except where the contest +was likely to go in favor of the whites without the use of undue +pressure. The white leaders exercised a moderating influence, but the +average white man had determined to do away with Negro government even +though the alternative might be a return of military rule. Congress +investigated the elections in each State which overthrew the +reconstructionists, but nothing came of the inquiry and the population +rapidly settled down into good order. After 1875 only three States +were left under radical government--Louisiana and Florida, where the +returning boards could throw out any Democratic majority, and South +Carolina, where the Negroes greatly outnumbered the whites. + + * See "The New South", by Holland Thompson (in "The + Chronicles of America"). + + +Reconstruction could hardly be a genuine issue in the presidential +campaign of 1876, because all except these three reconstructed States +had escaped from radical control, and there was no hope and little real +desire of regaining them. It was even expected that in this year the +radicals would lose Louisiana and Florida to the "white man's party." +The leaders of the best element of the Republicans, both North and +South, looked upon the reconstruction as one of the prime causes of +the moral breakdown of their party; they wanted no more of the Southern +issue but planned a forward-looking, constructive reform. + +To some of the Republican leaders, however, among whom was James G. +Blame, it was clear that the Republican party, with its unsavory record +under Grant's Administration, could hardly go before the people with a +reform program. The only possible thing to do was to revive some Civil +War issue--"wave the bloody shirt" and fan the smoldering embers of +sectional feeling. Blame met with complete success in raising the +desired issue. In January 1876, when an amnesty measure was brought +before the House, he moved that Jefferson Davis be excepted on the +ground that he was responsible for the mistreatment of Union prisoners +during the war. Southern hot-bloods replied, and Blaine skillfully led +them on until they had foolishly furnished him with ample material for +campaign purposes. The feeling thus aroused was so strong that it even +galvanized into seeming life the dying interest in the wrongs of +the Negro. The rallying cry "Vote as you shot!" gave the Republicans +something to fight for; the party referred to its war record, +claimed credit for preserving the Union, emancipating the Negro, +and reconstructing the South, and demanded that the country be not +"surrendered to rebel rule." + +Hayes and Tilden, the rival candidates for the presidency, were both +men of high character and of moderate views. Their nominations had +been forced by the better element of each party. Hayes, the Republican +candidate, had been a good soldier, was moderate in his views on +Southern questions, and had a clean political reputation. Tilden, his +opponent, had a good record as a party man and as a reformer, and his +party needed only to attack the past record of the Republicans. The +principal Democratic weakness lay in the fact that the party drew so +much of its strength from the white South and was therefore subjected to +criticism on Civil War issues. + +The campaign was hotly contested and was conducted on a low plane. Even +Hayes soon saw that the "bloody shirt" issue was the main vote winner. +The whites of the three "unredeemed" Southern States nerved themselves +for the final struggle. In South Carolina and in some parishes of +Louisiana, there was a considerable amount of violence, in which the +whites had the advantage, and much fraud, which the Republicans, who +controlled the election machinery, turned to best account. It has been +said that out of the confusion which the Republicans created they won +the presidency. + +The first election returns seemed to give Tilden the victory with 184 +undisputed electoral votes and popular majorities of ninety and over +six thousand respectively in Florida and Louisiana; only 185 votes were +needed for a choice. Hayes had 166 votes, not counting Oregon, in +which one vote was in dispute, and South Carolina, which for a time was +claimed by both parties. Had Louisiana and Florida been Northern +States, there would have been no controversy, but the Republican general +headquarters knew that the Democratic majorities in these States had to +go through Republican returning boards, which had never yet failed to +throw them out. + +The interest of the nation now centered around the action of the two +returning boards. At the suggestion of President Grant, prominent +Republicans went South to witness the count. Later prominent Democrats +went also. These "visiting statesmen" were to support the frail +returning boards in their duty. It was generally understood that these +boards, certainly the one in Louisiana, were for sale, and there is +little doubt that the Democrats inquired the price. But they were afraid +to bid on such uncertain quantities as Governor Wells and T. C. Anderson +of Louisiana, both notorious spoilsmen. The members of the boards in +both States soon showed the stiffening effect of the moral support of +the Federal Administration and of the "visiting statesmen." Reassured as +to their political future, they proceeded to do their duty: in Florida +they threw out votes until the ninety majority for Tilden was changed to +925 for Hayes, and in Louisiana, by throwing out about fifteen thousand +carefully selected ballots, they changed Tilden's lowest majority of +six thousand to a Hayes majority of nearly four thousand. Naturally the +Democrats sent in contesting returns, but the presidency was really won +when the Republicans secured in Louisiana and Florida returns which were +regular in form. But hoping to force Congress to go behind the returns, +the Democrats carried up contests also from Oregon and South Carolina, +whose votes properly belonged to Hayes. + +The final contest came in Congress over the counting of the electoral +votes. The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate +shall, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, +open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted." But +there was no agreement as to where authority lay for deciding disputed +votes. Never before had the presidency turned on a disputed count. From +1864 to 1874 the "twenty-second joint rule" had been in force under +which either House might reject a certificate. The votes of Georgia in +1868 and of Louisiana in 1879 had thus been thrown out. But the rule +had not been readopted by the present Congress, and the Republicans very +naturally would not listen to a proposal to readopt it now. + +With the country apparently on the verge of civil war, Congress finally +created by law an Electoral Commission to which were to be referred all +disputes about the counting of votes and the decision of which was to +be final unless both Houses concurred in rejecting it. The act +provided that the commission should consist of five senators, five +representatives, four designated associate justices of the Supreme +Court, and a fifth associate justice to be chosen by these four. While +nothing was said in the act about the political affiliations of the +members of the commission, every one understood that the House would +select three Democrats and two Republicans, and that the Senate would +name two Democrats and three Republicans. It was also well known that of +the four justices designated two were Republicans and two Democrats, and +it was tacitly agreed that the fifth would be Justice David Davis, an +"independent." But at the last moment Davis was elected Senator by the +Illinois Legislature and declined to serve on the Commission. Justice +Bradley, a Republican, was then named as the fifth justice, and in this +way the Republicans obtained a majority on the Commission. + +The Democrats deserve the credit for the Electoral Commission. The +Republicans did not favor it, even after they were sure of a party +majority on it. They were conscious that they had a weak case, and they +were afraid to trust it to judges of the Supreme Court. Their fears were +groundless, however, since all important questions were decided by an 8 +to 7 vote, Bradley voting with his fellow Republicans. Every contested +vote was given to Hayes, and with 185 electoral votes he was declared +elected on March 2, 1877. + +Ten years before, Senator Morton of Indiana had said: "I would have +been in favor of having the colored people of the South wait a few +years until they were prepared for the suffrage, until they were to +some extent educated, but the necessities of the times forbade that; the +conditions of things required that they should be brought to the polls +at once." Now the condition of things required that some arrangement be +made with the Southern whites which would involve a complete reversal +of the situation of 1867. In order to secure the unopposed succession of +Hayes, to defeat filibustering which might endanger the decision of the +Electoral Commission, politicians who could speak with authority for +Hayes assured influential Southern politicians, who wanted no more civil +war but who did want home rule, that an arrangement might be made which +would be satisfactory to both sides. + +So the contest was ended. Hayes was to be President; the South, with the +Negro, was to be left to the whites; there would be no further military +aid to carpetbag governments. In so far as the South was concerned, +it was a fortunate settlement better, indeed, than if Tilden had been +inducted into office. The remnants of the reconstruction policy were +surrendered by a Republican President, the troops were soon withdrawn, +and the three radical states fell at once under the control of the +whites. Hayes could not see in his election any encouragement to adopt +a vigorous radical position, and Congress was deadlocked on party issues +for fifteen years. As a result the radical Republicans had to develop +other interests, and the North gradually accepted the Southern +situation. + +Although the radical policy of reconstruction came to an end in 1877, +some of its results were more lasting. The Southern States were burdened +heavily with debt, much of which had been fraudulently incurred. +There now followed a period of adjustment, of refunding, scaling, and +repudiation, which not only injured the credit of the states but left +them with enormous debts. The Democratic party under the leadership of +former Confederates began its regime of strict economy, race fairness, +and inelastic Jeffersonianism. There was a political rest which almost +amounted to stagnation and which the leaders were unwilling to disturb +by progressive measures lest a developing democracy make trouble with +the settlement of 1877. + +The undoing of reconstruction was not entirely completed with the +understanding of 1877. There remained a large but somewhat shattered +Republican party in the South, with control over county and local +government in many Negro districts. Little by little the Democrats +rooted out these last vestiges of Negro control, using all the old +radical methods and some improvements,* such as tissue ballots, the +shuffling of ballot boxes, bribery, force, and redistricting, while some +regions were placed entirely under executive control and were ruled by +appointed commissions. With the good government which followed these +changes a deadlocked Congress showed no great desire to interfere. The +Supreme Court came to the aid of the Democrats with decisions in 1875, +1882, and 1883 which drew the teeth from the Enforcement Laws, and +Congress in 1894 repealed what was left of these regulations. + + *See "The New South", by Holland Thompson (in "The + Chronicles of America"). + +Under such discouraging conditions the voting strength of the +Republicans rapidly melted away. The party organization existed for the +Federal offices only and was interested in keeping down the number of +those who desired to be rewarded. As a consequence, the leaders could +work in harmony with those Democratic chiefs who were content with a +"solid South" and local home rule. The Negroes of the Black Belt, with +less enthusiasm and hope, but with quite the same docility as in 1868, +began to vote as the Democratic leaders directed. This practice brought +up in another form the question of "Negro government" and resulted in +a demand from the people of the white counties that the Negro be put +entirely out of politics. The answer came between 1890 and 1902 in the +form of new and complicated election laws or new constitutions which in +various ways shut out the Negro from the polls and left the government +to the whites. Three times have the Black Belt regions dominated the +Southern States: under slavery, when the master class controlled; under +reconstruction, when the leaders of the Negroes had their own way; and +after reconstruction until Negro disfranchisement, when the Democratic +dictators of the Negro vote ruled fairly but not always acceptably to +the white counties which are now the source of their political power. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The best general accounts of the reconstruction period are found in +James Ford Rhodes's "History of the United States from the Compromise of +1850 to the Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877", volumes V, +VI, VII (1906); in William A. Dunning's "Reconstruction, Political +and Economic", 1865-1877, in the "American Nation" Series, volume XXII +(1907); and in Peter Joseph Hamilton's "The Reconstruction Period" +(1905), which is volume XVI of "The History of North America", edited by +F. N. Thorpe. The work of Rhodes is spacious and fair-minded but there +are serious gaps in his narrative; Dunning's briefer account covers the +entire field with masterly handling; Hamilton's history throws new light +on all subjects and is particularly useful for an understanding of the +Southern point of view. A valuable discussion of constitutional problems +is contained in William A. Dunning's "Essay on the Civil War and +Reconstruction and Related Topics" (1904); and a criticism of the +reconstruction policies from the point of view of political science and +constitutional law is to be found in J. W. Burgess's "Reconstruction and +the Constitution, 1866-1876" (1902). E. B. Andrews's "The United States +in our own Time" (1903) gives a popular treatment of the later period. A +collection of brief monographs entitled "Why the Solid South?" by Hilary +A. Herbert and others (1890) was written as a campaign document to +offset the drive made by the Republicans in 1889 for new enforcement +laws. + +There are many scholarly monographs on reconstruction in the several +states. The best of these are: J. W. Garner's "Reconstruction in +Mississippi" (1901), W. L. Fleming's "Civil War and Reconstruction +in Alabama" (1905), J. G. de R. Hamilton's "Reconstruction in North +Carolina" (1914), W. W. Davis's "The Civil War and Reconstruction in +Florida" (1913), J. S. Reynolds's "Reconstruction in South Carolina", +1865-1877 (1905); C. W. Ramsdell's "Reconstruction in Texas" (1910), and +C. M. Thompson's "Reconstruction in Georgia" (1915). + +Books of interest on special phases of reconstruction are not numerous, +but among those deserving mention are Paul S. Pierce's "The Freedmen's +Bureau" (1904), D. M. DeWitt's "The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew +Johnson" (1903), and Paul L. Haworth's "The Hayes-Tilden Disputed +Presidential Election of 1876" (1906), each of which is a thorough study +of its field. J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson's "Ku Klux Klan" (1905) and +M. L. Avary's "Dixie After the War" (1906) contribute much to a fair +understanding of the feeling of the whites after the Civil War; and +Gideon Welles, "Diary", 3 vols. (1911), is a mine of information from a +conservative cabinet officer's point of view. + +For the politician's point of view one may go to James G. Blaine's +"Twenty Years of Congress", 2 vols. (1884, 1886) and Samuel S. Cox's +"Three Decades of Federal Legislation" (1885). Good biographies are +James A. Woodburn's "The Life of Thaddeus Stevens" (1913), Moorfield +Storey's "Charles Sumner" (1900), C. F. Adams's "Charles Francis Adams" +(1900). Less satisfactory because more partisan is Edward Stanwood's +"James Gillespie Blaine" (1906). There are no adequate biographies of +the Democratic and Southern leaders. + +The official documents are found conveniently arranged in William +McDonald's "Select Statutes", 1861-1898 (1903), and also with other +material in Walter L. Fleming's "Documentary History of Reconstruction", +2 vols. (1906, 1907). The general reader is usually repelled by the +collections known as "Public Documents". The valuable "Ku Klux Trials" +(1872) is, however, separately printed and to be found in most good +libraries. By a judicious use of the indispensable "Tables and Index +to Public Documents," one can find much vividly interesting material in +connection with contested election cases and reports of congressional +investigations into conditions in the South. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Sequel of Appomattox, by Walter Lynwood Fleming + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX *** + +***** This file should be named 2897.txt or 2897.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/9/2897/ + +Produced by The James J. 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GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + + + + + +THE SEQUEL OF APPOMATTOX +A CHRONICLE OF THE REUNION OF THE STATES + +BY WALTER LYNWOOD FLEMING + + + + +CHAPTER I. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR + +When the armies of the Union and of the Confederacy were disbanded in 1865, +two matters had been settled beyond further dispute: the Negro was to be free, +and the Union was to be perpetuated. But, though slavery and state sovereignty +were no longer at issue, there were still many problems which pressed for +solution. The huge task of reconstruction must be faced. The nature of the +situation required that the measures of reconstruction be first formulated in +Washington by the victors and then worked out in the conquered South. Since +the success of these policies would depend in a large measure upon their +acceptability to both sections of the country, it was expected that the North +would be influenced to some extent by the attitude of the Southern people, +which in turn would be determined largely by local conditions in the South. +The situation in the South at the close of the Civil War is, therefore, the +point at which this narrative of the reconstruction naturally takes its +beginning. + +The surviving Confederate soldiers came straggling back to communities, which +were now far from being satisfactory dwelling places for civilized people. +Everywhere they found missing many of the best of their former neighbors. They +found property destroyed, the labor system disorganized, and the inhabitants +in many places suffering from want. They found the white people demoralized +and sometimes divided among themselves and the Negroes free, bewildered, and +disorderly, for organized government had lapsed with the surrender of the +Confederate armies. + +Beneath a disorganized society lay a devastated land. The destruction of +property affected all classes of the population. The accumulated capital of +the South had disappeared in worthless Confederate stocks, bonds, and +currency. The banks had failed early in the war. Two billion dollars invested +in slaves had been wiped out. Factories, which had been running before the war +or were developed after 1861 in order to supply the blockaded country, had +been destroyed by Federal raiders or seized and sold or dismantled because +they had furnished supplies to the Confederacy. Mining industries were +paralyzed. Public buildings which had been used for war purposes were +destroyed or confiscated for the uses of the army or for the new freedmen's +schools. It was months before courthouses, state capitols, school and college +buildings were again made available for normal uses. The military school +buildings had been destroyed by the Federal forces. Among the schools which +suffered were the Virginia Military Institute, the University of Alabama, the +Louisiana State Seminary, and many smaller institutions. Nearly all these had +been used in some way for war purposes and were therefore subject to +destruction or confiscation. + +The farmers and planters found themselves "land poor." The soil remained, but +there was a prevalent lack of labor, of agricultural equipment, of farm stock, +of seeds, and of money with which to make good the deficiency. As a result, a +man with hundreds of acres might be as poor as a Negro refugee. The desolation +is thus described by a Virginia farmer: + +"From Harper's Ferry to New Market, which is about eighty miles . . . the +country was almost a desert . . . . We had no cattle, hogs, sheep, or horse or +anything else. The fences were all gone. Some of the orchards were very much +injured, but the fruit trees had not been destroyed. The barns were all +burned; chimneys standing without houses, and houses standing without roof, or +door, or window." + +Much land was thrown on the market at low prices--three to five dollars an +acre for land worth fifty dollars. The poorer lands could not be sold at all, +and thousands of farms were deserted by their owners. Everywhere recovery from +this agricultural depression was slow. Five years after the war Robert Somers, +an English traveler, said of the Tennessee Valley: + +"It consists for the most part of plantations in a state of semi- ruin and +plantations of which the ruin is for the present total and complete . . . . +The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burnt-up gin-houses, +ruined bridges, mills, and factories . . . and in large tracts of once +cultivated land stripped of every vestige of fencing. The roads, long +neglected, are in disorder, and having in many places become impassable, new +tracks have been made through the woods and fields without much respect to +boundaries." + +Similar conditions existed wherever the armies had passed, and not in the +country districts alone. Many of the cities, such as Richmond, Charleston, +Columbia, Jackson, Atlanta, and Mobile had suffered from fire or bombardment. + +There were few stocks of merchandise in the South when the war ended, and +Northern creditors had lost so heavily through the failure of Southern +merchants that they were cautious about extending credit again. Long before +1865 all coin had been sent out in contraband trade through the blockade. That +there was a great need of supplies from the outside world is shown by the +following statement of General Boynton: + +"Window-glass has given way to thin boards, in railway coaches and in the +cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and none has been replaced for four +years. Dishes are cemented in various styles, and half the pitchers have tin +handles. A complete set of crockery is never seen, and in very few families is +there enough to set a table .... A set of forks with whole tines is a +curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all stopped . . . . Hairbrushes and +toothbrushes have all worn out; combs are broken . . . . Pins, needles, and +thread, and a thousand such articles, which seem indispensable to +housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in weaving on the looms, corncobs have +been substituted for spindles. Few have pocketknives. In fact, everything that +has heretofore been an article of sale in the South is wanting now. At the +tables of those who were once esteemed luxurious providers you will find +neither tea, coffee, sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some +cases, have been replaced by a cup of grease in which a piece of cloth is +plunged for a wick." + +This poverty was prolonged and rendered more acute by the lack of +transportation. Horses, mules, wagons, and carriages were scarce, the country +roads were nearly impassable, and bridges were in bad repair or had been +burned or washed away. Steamboats had almost disappeared from the rivers. +Those which had escaped capture as blockade runners had been subsequently +destroyed or were worn out.. Postal facilities, which had been poor enough +during the last year of the Confederacy, were entirely lacking for several +months after the surrender. + +The railways were in a state of physical dilapidation little removed from +destruction, save for those that had been captured and kept in partial repair +by the Federal troops. The rolling stock had been lost by capture, by +destruction to prevent capture, in wrecks, which were frequent, or had been +worn out. The railroad companies possessed large sums in Confederate currency +and in securities which were now valueless. About two-thirds of all the lines +were hopelessly bankrupt. Fortunately, the United States War Department took +over the control of the railway lines and in some cases effected a temporary +reorganization which could not have been accomplished by the bankrupt +companies. During the summer and fall of 1865, "loyal" boards of directors +were appointed for most of the railroads, and the army withdrew its control. +But repairs and reconstruction were accomplished with difficulty because of +the demoralization of labor and the lack of funds or credit. Freight was +scarce and, had it not been for government shipments, some of the railroads +would have been abandoned. Not many people were able to travel. It is recorded +that on one trip from Montgomery to Mobile and return, a distance of 360 +miles, the railroad which is now the Louisville and Nashville collected only +thirteen dollars in fares. + +Had there been unrestricted commercial freedom in the South in 1865-66, the +distress of the people would have been somewhat lessened, for here and there +were to be found public and private stores of cotton, tobacco, rice, and other +farm products, all of which were bringing high prices in the market. But for +several months the operation of wartime laws and regulations hindered the +distribution of even these scanty stores. Property upon which the Confederate +Government had a claim was, of course, subject to Confiscation, and private +property offered for sale, even that of Unionists, was subject to a 25 percent +tax on sales, a shipping tax, and a revenue tax. The revenue tax on cotton, +ranging from two to three cents a pound during the three years after the war, +brought in over $68,000,000. This tax, with other Federal revenues, yielded +much more than the entire expenses of reconstruction from 1865 to 1868 and of +all relief measures for the South, both public and private. After May 1865, +the 25 percent tax was imposed only upon the produce of slave labor. None of +the war taxes, except that on cotton, was levied upon the crops of 1866, but +while these taxes lasted, they seriously impeded the resumption of trade. + +Even these restrictions, however, might have been borne if only they had been +honestly applied. Unfortunately, some of the most spectacular frauds ever +perpetrated were carried through in connection with the attempt of the United +States Treasury Department to collect and sell the confiscable property in the +South. The property to be sold consisted of what had been captured and seized +by the army and the navy, of "abandoned" property, as such was called whose +owner was absent in the Confederate service, and of property subject to +seizure under the confiscation acts of Congress. No captures were made after +the general surrender, and no further seizures of "abandoned" property were +made after Johnson's amnesty proclamation of May 29, 1865. This left only the +"confiscable" property to be collected and sold. + +For collection purposes the states of the South were divided into districts, +each under the supervision of an agent of the Treasury Department, who +received a commission of about 25 percent. Cotton, regarded as the root of the +slavery evil, was singled out as the principal object of confiscation. It was +known that the Confederate Government had owned in 1865 about 150,000 bales, +but the records were defective and much of it, with no clear indication of +ownership, still remained with the producers. Secretary Chase, foreseeing the +difficulty of effecting a just settlement, counseled against seizure, but his +judgment was overruled. Secretary McCulloch said of his agents: "I am sure I +sent some honest cotton agents South; but it sometimes seems doubtful whether +any of them remained honest very long." Some of the natives, even, became +cotton thieves. In a report made in 1866, McCulloch describes their methods: +"Contractors, anxious for gain, were sometimes guilty of bad faith and +peculation, and frequently took possession of cotton and delivered it under +contracts as captured or abandoned, when in fact it was not such, and they had +no right to touch it . . . . Residents and others in the districts where these +peculations were going on took advantage of the unsettled condition of the +country, and representing themselves as agents of this department, went about +robbing under such pretended authority, and thus added to the difficulties of +the situation by causing unjust opprobrium and suspicion to rest upon officers +engaged in the faithful discharge of their duties. Agents, . . . frequently +received or collected property, and sent it forward which the law did not +authorize them to take . . . . Lawless men, singly and in organized bands, +engaged in general plunder; every species of intrigue and peculation and theft +were resorted to." + +These agents turned over to the United States about $34,000,000. About 40,000 +claimants were subsequently indemnified on the ground that the property taken +from them did not belong to the Confederate Government, but many thousands of +other claimants have been unable to prove that their property was seized by +government agents and hence have received nothing. It is probable that the +actual Confederate property was nearly all stolen by the agents. One agent in +Alabama sold an appointment as assistant for $25,000, and a few months later +both the assistant and the agent were tried by a military court for stealing +and were fined $90,000 and $250,000 respectively in addition to being +imprisoned. + +Other property, including horses, mules, wagons, tobacco, rice, and sugar +which the natives claimed as their own, was seized. In some places the agents +even collected delinquent Confederate taxes. Much of the confiscable property +was not sold but was turned over to the Freedmen's Bureau* for its support. +The total amount seized cannot be satisfactorily ascertained. The Ku Klux +minority report asserted that 3,000,000 bales of cotton were taken, of which +the United States received only 114,000. It is certain that, owing to the +deliberate destruction of cotton by fire in 1864-65, this estimate was too +high, but all the testimony points to the fact that the frauds were +stupendous. As a result the United States Government did not succeed in +obtaining the Confederate property to which it had a claim, and the country +itself was stripped of necessities to a degree that left it not only destitute +but outraged and embittered. "Such practices," said Trowbridge, "had a +pernicious effect, engendering a contempt for the Government and a murderous +ill will which too commonly vented itself upon soldiers and Negroes." * See +pp. 89 et seq. + +The South faced the work of reconstruction not only with a shortage of +material and greatly hampered in the employment even of that but still more +with a shortage of men. The losses among the whites are usually estimated at +about half the military population, but since accurate records are lacking, +the exact numbers cannot be ascertained. The best of the civil leaders, as +well as the prominent military leaders, had so committed themselves to the +support of the Confederacy as to be excluded from participation in any +reconstruction that might be attempted. The business of reconstruction, +therefore, fell of necessity to the Confederate private soldiers, the lower +officers, nonparticipants, and lukewarm individuals who had not greatly +compromised themselves. These politically and physically uninjured survivors +included also all the "slackers" of the Confederacy. But though there were +such physical and moral losses on the part of those to whom fell the direction +of affairs, there was also a moral strengthening in the sound element of the +people who had been tried by the discipline of war. + +The greatest weakness of both races was their extreme poverty. The crops of +1865 turned out badly, for most of the soldiers reached home too late for +successful planting, and the Negro labor was not dependable. The sale of such +cotton and farm products as had escaped the treasury agents was of some help, +but curiously enough much of the good money thus obtained was spent +extravagantly by a people used to Confederate rag money and for four years +deprived of the luxuries of life. The poorer whites who had lost all were +close to starvation. In the white counties which had sent so large a +proportion of men to the army, the destitution was most acute. In many +families the breadwinner had been killed in war. After 1862, relief systems +had been organized in nearly all the Confederate States for the purpose of +aiding the poor whites, but these organizations were disbanded in 1865. A +Freedmen's Bureau official traveling through the desolate back country +furnishes a description which might have applied to two hundred counties, a +third of the South: "It is a common, an every-day sight in Randolph County, +that of women and children, most of whom were formerly in good circumstances, +begging for bread from door to door. Meat of any kind has been a stranger to +many of their mouths for months. The drought cut off what little crops they +hoped to save, and they must have immediate help or perish. By far the greater +suffering exists among the whites. Their scanty supplies have been exhausted, +and now they look to the Government alone for support. Some are without homes +of any description." + +Where the armies had passed, few of the people, white or black, remained; most +of them had been forced as "refugees" within the Union lines or into the +interior of the Confederacy. Now, along with the disbanded Confederate +soldiers, they came straggling back to their war-swept homes. It was +estimated, in December 1865, that in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and +Georgia, there were five hundred thousand white people who were without the +necessaries of life; numbers died from lack of food. Within a few months, +relief agencies were at work. In the North, especially in the border states +and in New York, charitable organizations collected and forwarded great +quantities of supplies to the Negroes and to the whites in the hill and +mountain counties. The reorganized state and local governments sent food from +the unravaged portions of the Black Belt to the nearest white counties, and +the army commanders gave some aid. As soon as the Freedmen's Bureau was +organized, it fed to the limit of its supplies the needy whites as well as the +blacks. + +The extent of the relief afforded by the charity of the North and by the +agencies of the United States Government is not now generally remembered, +probably on account of the later objectionable activities of the Freedmen's +Bureau, but it was at the time properly appreciated. A Southern journalist, +writing of what he saw in Georgia, remarked that "it must be a matter of +gratitude as well as surprise for our people to see a Government which was +lately fighting us with fire and sword and shell, now generously feeding our +poor and distressed. In the immense crowds which throng the distributing +house, I notice the mothers and fathers, widows and orphans of our soldiers . +. . . Again, the Confederate soldier, with one leg or one arm, the crippled, +maimed, and broken, and the worn and destitute men, who fought bravely their +enemies then, their benefactors now, have their sacks filled and are fed." + +Acute distress continued until 1867; after that year there was no further +danger of starvation. Some of the poor whites, especially in the remote +districts, never again reached a comfortable standard of living; some were +demoralized by too much assistance; others were discouraged and left the South +for the West or the North. But the mass of the people accepted the discipline +of poverty and made the best of their situation. + +The difficulties, however, that beset even the courageous and the competent +were enormous. The general paralysis of industry, the breaking up of society, +and poverty on all sides bore especially hard on those who had not previously +been manual laborers. Physicians could get practice enough but no fees; +lawyers who had supported the Confederacy found it difficult to get back into +the reorganized courts because of the test oaths and the competition of +"loyal" attorneys; and for the teachers there were few schools. We read of +officers high in the Confederate service selling to Federal soldiers the pies +and cakes cooked by their wives, of others selling fish and oysters which they +themselves had caught, and of men and women hitching themselves to plows when +they had no horse or mule. + +Such incidents must, from their nature, have been infrequent, but they show to +what straits some at least were reduced. Six years after the war, James S. +Pike, then in South Carolina, mentions cases which might be duplicated in +nearly every old Southern community: "In the vicinity," he says, "lived a +gentleman whose income when the war broke out was rated at $150,000 a year. +Not a vestige of his whole vast estate remains today. Not far distant were the +estates of a large proprietor and a well-known family, rich and distinguished +for generations. The slaves were gone. The family is gone. A single scion of +the house remains, and he peddles tea by the pound and molasses by the quart, +on a corner of the old homestead, to the former slaves of the family and +thereby earns his livelihood." + +General Lee's good example influenced many. Commercial enterprises were +willing to pay for the use of his name and reputation, but he wished to farm +and could get no opportunity. "They are offering my father everything," his +daughter said, "except the only thing he will accept, a place to earn honest +bread while engaged in some useful work." This remark led to an offer of the +presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, which he +accepted. "I have a self-imposed task which I must accomplish," he said, "I +have led the young men of the South in battle; I have seen many of them fall +under my standard. I shall devote my life now to training young men to do +their duty in life." + +The condition of honest folk was still further troubled by a general spirit of +lawlessness in many regions. Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana +recognized the "Union" state government, but the coming of peace brought legal +anarchy to the other states of the Confederacy. The Confederate state and +local governments were abolished as the armies of occupation spread over the +South, and for a period of four or six months there was no government except +that exercised by the commanders of the military garrisons left behind when +the armies marched away. Even before the surrender, the local governments were +unable to make their authority respected, and soon after the war ended, parts +of the country became infested with outlaws, pretend treasury agents, horse +thieves, cattle thieves, and deserters. Away from the military posts only +lynch law could cope with these elements of disorder. + +With the aid of the army in the more settled regions, and by extra-legal means +elsewhere, the outlaws, thieves, cotton burners, and house burners were +brought somewhat under control even before the state governments were +reorganized, though the embers of lawlessness continued to smolder. + +The relations between the Federal soldiers stationed in the principal towns +and the native white population were not, on the whole, so bad as might have +been expected. If the commanding officer were well disposed, there was little +danger of friction, though sometimes his troops got out of hand. The regulars +had a better reputation than the volunteers. The Confederate soldiers were +surfeited with fighting, but the "stay-at-home" element was often a cause of +trouble. The problem of social relations between the conquerors and the +conquered was troublesome. The men might get along well together, but the +women would have nothing do with the "Yankees," and ill feeling arose because +of their antipathy. Carl Schurz reported that "the soldier of the Union is +looked upon as a stranger, an intruder, as the 'Yankee,' the 'enemy.' . . . +The existence and intensity of this aversion is too well known to those who +have served or are serving in the South to require proof." + +In retaliation the soldiers developed ingenious ways of annoying the whites. +Women, forced for any reason to go to headquarters, were made to take the oath +of allegiance or the "ironclad" oath before their requests were granted; flags +were fastened over doors, gates, or sidewalks in order to irritate the +recalcitrant dames and their daughters. Confederate songs and color +combinations were forbidden. In Richmond, General Halleck ordered that no +marriages be performed unless the bride, the groom, and the officiating +clergyman took the oath of allegiance. He explained this as a measure taken to +prevent "the propagation of legitimate rebels." + +The wearing of Confederate uniforms was forbidden by military order, but by +May 1865, few soldiers possessed regulation uniforms. In Tennessee the State +also imposed fines upon *wear wearers of the uniform. In the vicinity of +military posts, buttons and marks of rank were usually ordered removed and the +gray clothes dyed with some other color. General Lee, for example, had the +buttons on his coat covered with cloth. But frequently the Federal commander, +after issuing the orders, paid no more attention to the matter and such +conflicts as arose on account of the uniform were usually caused by officious +enlisted men and the Negro troops. Whitelaw Reid relates the following +incident: + +"Nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than the almost +painful effort of the rebels, from generals down to privates, to conduct +themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to bring no severer +punishment upon the city than it had already received. There was a brutal +scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with a pair of tailor's shears, +insisted on cutting the buttons from the uniform of an elegant gray-headed old +brigadier, who had just come in from Johnston's army; but he bore himself +modestly and very handsomely through it. His staff was composed of +fine-looking, stalwart fellows, evidently gentlemen, who appeared intensely +mortified at such treatment. They had no clothes except their rebel uniforms, +and had, as yet, had no time to procure others, but they avoided disturbances +and submitted to what they might, with some propriety, and with the general +approval of our officers, *have resented." + +The Negro troops, even at their best, were everywhere considered offensive by +the native whites. General Grant, indeed, urged that only white troops be used +to garrison the interior. But the Negro soldier, impudent by reason of his new +freedom, his new uniform, and his new gun, was more than Southern temper could +tranquilly bear, and race conflicts were frequent. A New Orleans newspaper +thus states the Southern point of view: "Our citizens who had been accustomed +to meet and treat the Negroes only as respectful servants, were mortified, +pained, and shocked to encounter them . . . wearing Federal uniforms and +bearing bright muskets and gleaming bayonets . . . . They are jostled from the +sidewalks by dusky guards, marching four abreast. They were halted, in rude +and sullen tones, by Negro sentinels." + +The task of the Federal forces was not easy. The garrisons were not large +enough nor numerous enough to keep order in the absence of civil government. +The commanders in the South asked in vain for cavalry to police the rural +districts. Much of the disorder, violence, and incendiarism attributed at the +time to lawless soldiers appeared later to be due to discharged soldiers and +others pretending to be soldiers in order to carry out schemes of robbery. The +whites complained vigorously of the garrisons, and petitions were sent to +Washington from mass meetings and from state legislatures asking for their +removal. The higher commanders, however, bore themselves well, and in a few +fortunate cases Southern whites were on most amicable terms with the garrison +commanders. The correspondence of responsible military officers in the South +shows how earnestly and considerately each, as a rule, tried to work out his +task. The good sense of most of the Federal officers appeared when, after the +murder of Lincoln, even General Grant for a brief space lost his head and +ordered the arrest of paroled Confederates. + + +The church organizations were as much involved in the war and in the +reconstruction as were secular institutions. Before the war every religious +organization having members North and South, except the Catholic Church and +the Jews, had separated into independent Northern and Southern bodies. In each +section church feeling ran high, and when the war came, the churches supported +the armies. As the Federal armies occupied Southern territory, the church +buildings of each denomination were turned over to the corresponding Northern +body, and Southern ministers were permitted to remain only upon agreeing to +conduct "loyal services, pray for the President of the United States and for +Federal victories" and to foster "loyal sentiment." The Protestant Episcopal +churches in Alabama were closed from September to December 1865, and some +congregations were dispersed by the soldiers because Bishop Wilmer had +directed his clergy to omit the prayer for President Davis but had substituted +no other. The ministers of non-liturgical churches were not so easily +controlled. A Georgia Methodist preacher directed by a Federal officer to pray +for the President said afterwards: "I prayed for the President that the Lord +would take out of him and his allies the hearts of beasts and put into them +the hearts of men or remove the cusses from office." Sometimes members of a +congregation showed their resentment at the "loyal" prayers by leaving the +church. But in spite of many irritations, both sides frequently managed to get +some amusement out of the "loyal" services. The church situation was, however, +a serious matter during and after the reconstruction, and some of its later +phases will have to be discussed elsewhere. + +The Unionist, or "Tory," of the lower and eastern South found himself, in +1865, a man without a country. Few in number in any community, they found +themselves, upon their return from a harsh exile, the victims of ostracism or +open hostility. One of them, William H. Smith, later Governor of Alabama, +testified that the Southern people "manifest the most perfect contempt for a +man who is known to be an unequivocal Union man; they call him a 'galvanized +Yankee' and apply other terms and epithets to him." General George H. Thomas, +speaking of a region more divided in sentiment than Alabama, remarked that +"Middle Tennessee is disturbed by animosities and hatreds, much more than it +is by the disloyalty of persons towards the Government of the United States. + +Those personal animosities would break out and overawe the civil authorities, +but for the presence there of the troops of the United States . . . . They are +more unfriendly to Union men, natives of the State of Tennessee, or of the +South, who have been in the Union army, than they are to men of Northern +birth." + +In the border states, society was sharply divided, and feeling was bitter. In +eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and parts of Arkansas and +Missouri, returning Confederates met harsher treatment than did the Unionists +in the lower South. Trowbridge says of east Tennessee: "Returning rebels were +robbed; and if one had stolen unawares to his home, it was not safe for him to +remain there. I saw in Virginia one of these exiles, who told me how +homesickly he pined for the hills and meadows of east Tennessee, which he +thought the most delightful region in the world. But, there was a rope hanging +from a tree for him there, and he dared not go back. 'The bottom rails are on +top,' said he, 'that is the trouble.' The Union element, and the worst part of +the Union element, was uppermost." Confederates and Confederate sympathizers +in Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, were disfranchised. In +West Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, "war trespass" suits were brought +against returning Confederates for military acts done in war time. In Missouri +and West Virginia, strict test oaths excluded Confederates from office, from +the polls, and from the professions of teaching, preaching, and law. On the +other hand in central and western Kentucky, the predominant Unionist +population, themselves suffering through the abolition of slavery, and by the +objectionable operations of the Freedmen's Bureau and the unwise military +administration, showed more sympathy for the Confederates, welcomed them home, +and soon relieved them of all restrictions. + +Still another element of discord was added by the Northerners who came to +exploit the South. Many mustered-out soldiers proposed to stay. Speculators of +all kinds followed the withdrawing Confederate lines and with the conclusion +of peace spread through the country, but they were not cordially received. +With the better class, the Southerners, especially the soldiers, associated +freely if seldom intimately. But the conduct of a few of their number who +considered that the war had opened all doors to them, who very freely +expressed their views, gave advice, condemned old customs, and were generally +offensive, did much to bring all Northerners into disrepute. Tactlessly +critical letters published in Northern papers did not add to their popularity. +The few Northern women felt the ostracism more keenly than did the men. +Benjamin C. Truman, an agent of President Johnson, thus summed up the +situation: "There is a prevalent disposition not to associate too freely with +Northern men or to receive them into the circles of society; but it is far +from unsurmountable. Over Southern society, as over every other, woman reigns +supreme, and they are more embittered against those whom they deem the authors +of all their calamities than are their brothers, sons, and husbands." But, of +the thousands of Northern men who overcame the reluctance of the Southerners +to social intercourse, little was heard. Many a Southern planter secured a +Northern partner or sold him half his plantation to get money to run the other +half. For the irritations of 1865, each party must take its share of +responsibility. + +Had the South assisted in a skillful and adequate publicity, much disastrous +misunderstanding might have been avoided. The North knew as little of the +South as the South did of the North, but the North was eager for news. Able +newspaper correspondents like Sidney Andrews of the Boston Advertiser and the +Chicago Tribune, who opposed President Johnson's policies, Thomas W. Knox of +the New York Herald, who had given General Sherman so much trouble in +Tennessee, Whitelaw Reid, who wrote for several papers and tried cotton +planting in Louisiana, and John T. Trowbridge, New England author and +journalist, were dispatched southwards. Chief of the President's investigators +was General Carl Schurz, German revolutionist, Federal soldier, and soon to be +radical Republican, who held harsh views of the Southern people; and there +were besides Harvey M. Watterson, Kentucky Democrat and Unionist, the father +of "Marse" Henry; Benjamin C. Truman, New England journalist and soldier, +whose long report was perhaps the best of all; Chief Justice Chase, who was +thinking mainly of "How soon can the Negro vote?"; and General Grant, who made +a report so brief that, notwithstanding its value, it attracted little +attention. In addition a constant stream of information and misinformation was +going northward from treasury agents, officers of the army, the Freedmen's +Bureau, teachers, and missionaries. Among foreigners who described the +conquered land were Robert Somers, Henry Latham, and William Hepworth Dixon. +But few in the South realized the importance of supplying the North with +correct information about actual conditions. The letters and reports, they +thought, humiliated them; inquiry was felt to be prying and gloating. +"Correspondents have added a new pang to surrender," it was said. The South +was proud and refused to be catechized. From the Northern point of view, the +South, a new and strange region with strange customs and principles, was of +course, not to be considered as quite normal and American, but there was on +the part of many correspondents a determined attempt to describe things as +they were. And yet the North persisted in its unsympathetic queries when it +seemed to have a sufficient answer in the reports of Grant, Schurz, and +Truman. + +Grant's opinion was short and direct: "I am satisfied that the mass of +thinking men of the South accept the present situation of affairs in good +faith . . . . The citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return to +self-government within the Union as soon as possible." Truman came to the +conclusion that "the rank and file of the disbanded Southern army . . . are +the backbone and sinew of the South . . . . To the disbanded regiments of the +rebel army, both officers and men, I look with great confidence as the best +and altogether the most hopeful element of the South, the real basis of +reconstruction and the material of worthy citizenship." General John Tarbell, +before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, testified that "there are, no +doubt, disloyal and disorderly persons in the South, but it is an entire +mistake to apply these terms to a whole people. I would as soon travel alone, +unarmed, through the South as through the North. The South I left is not at +all the South I hear and read about in the North. From the sentiment I hear in +the North, I would scarcely recognize the people I saw, and, except their +politics, I liked so well. I have entire faith that the better classes are +friendly to the Negroes." + +Carl Schurz on the other hand was not so favorably impressed. "The loyalty of +the masses and most of the leaders of the southern people," he said, "consists +in submission to necessity. There is, except in individual instances, an +entire absence of that national spirit which forms the basis of true loyalty +and patriotism." Another government official in Florida was quite doubtful of +the Southern whites. "I would pin them down at the point of the bayonet," he +declared, "so close that they would not have room to wiggle, and allow +intelligent colored people to go up and vote in preference to them. The only +Union element in the South proper . . . is among the colored people. The +whites will treat you very kindly to your face, but they are deceitful. I have +often thought, and so expressed myself, that there is so much deception among +the people of the South since the rebellion, that if an earthquake should open +and swallow them up, I was fearful that the devil would be dethroned and some +of them take his place." + +The point of view of the Confederate military leaders was exhibited by General +Wade Hampton in a letter to President Johnson and by General Lee in his advice +to Governor Letcher of Virginia. General Hampton wrote: "The South +unequivocally 'accepts the situation' in which she is placed. Everything that +she has done has been done in perfect faith, and in the true and highest sense +of the word, she is loyal. By this I mean that she intends to abide by the +laws of the land honestly, to fulfill all her obligations faithfully and to +keep her word sacredly, and I assert that the North has no right to demand +more of her. You have no right to ask, or expect that she will at once profess +unbounded love to that Union from which for four years she tried to escape at +the cost of her best blood and all her treasures." General Lee in order to set +an example applied through General Grant for a pardon under the amnesty +proclamation and soon afterwards he wrote to Governor Letcher: "All should +unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war, and to restore the +blessings of peace. They should remain, if possible, in the country; promote +harmony and good-feeling; qualify themselves to vote; and elect to the State +and general legislatures wise and patriotic men, who will devote their +abilities to the interests of the country and the healing of all dissensions; +I have invariably recommended this course since the cessation of hostilities, +and have endeavored to practice it myself." + +Southerners of the Confederacy everywhere, then, accepted the destruction of +slavery and the renunciation of state sovereignty; they welcomed an early +restoration of the Union, without any punishment of leaders of the defeated +cause. But they were proud of their Confederate records though now legally +"loyal" to the United States; they considered the Negro as free but inferior, +and expected to be permitted to fix his status in the social organization and +to solve the problem of free labor in their own way. To *embarrass the easy +and permanent realization of these views there was a society disrupted, +economically prostrate, deprived of its natural leaders, subjected to a +control not always wisely conceived nor effectively exercised, and, finally, +containing within its own population unassimilated elements which presented +problems fraught with difficulty and danger. + + + +CHAPTER II. WHEN FREEDOM CRIED OUT + +The Negro is the central figure in the reconstruction of the South. Without +the Negro there would have been no Civil War. Granting a war fought for any +other cause, the task of reconstruction would, without him, have been +comparatively simple. With him, however, reconstruction meant more than the +restoring of shattered resources; it meant the more or less successful attempt +to obtain and secure for the freedman civil and political rights, and to +improve his economic and social status. In 1861, the American Negro was +everywhere an inferior, and most of his race were slaves; in 1865, he was no +longer a slave, but whether he was to be serf, ward, or citizen was an +unsettled problem; in 1868, he was in the South the legal and political equal, +frequently the superior, of the white; and before the end of the +reconstruction period he was made by the legislation of some states and by +Congress the legal equal of the white even in certain social matters. + +The race problem which confronted the American people had no parallel in the +past. British and Spanish-American emancipation of slaves had affected only +small numbers or small regions, in which one race greatly outnumbered the +other. The results of these earlier emancipations of the Negroes and the +difficulties of European states in dealing with subject white populations were +not such as to afford helpful example to American statesmen. But since it was +the actual situation in the Southern States rather than the experience of +other countries which shaped the policies adopted during reconstruction, it is +important to examine with some care the conditions in which the Negroes in the +South found themselves at the close of the war. + +The Negroes were not all helpless and without experience "when freedom cried +out."* In the Border States and in the North there were, in 1861, half a +million free Negroes accustomed to looking out for themselves. Nearly 200,000 +Negro men were enlisted in the United States army between 1862 and 1865, and +many thousands of slaves had followed raiding Federal forces to freedom or had +escaped through the Confederate lines. State emancipation in Missouri, +Maryland, West Virginia, and Tennessee, and the practical application of the +Emancipation Proclamation where the Union armies were in control ended slavery +for many thousands more. Wherever the armies marched, slavery ended. This was +true even in Kentucky, where the institution was not legally abolished until +the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment. Altogether more than a million +Negroes were free and to some extent habituated to freedom before May 1865. + +*A Negro phrase much used in referring to emancipation. + + +Most of these war-emancipated Negroes were scattered along the borders of the +Confederacy, in camps, in colonies, in the towns, on refugee farms, at work +with the armies, or serving as soldiers in the ranks. There were large working +colonies along the Atlantic coast from Maryland to Florida. The chief centers +were near Norfolk, where General Butler was the first to establish a +"contraband" camp, in North Carolina, and on the Sea Islands of South +Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which had been seized by the Federal fleet +early in the war. To the Sea Islands also were sent, in 1865, the hordes of +Negroes who had followed General Sherman out of Georgia and South Carolina. +Through the border states from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and along both +sides of the Mississippi from Cairo, Illinois, to New Orleans, there were +other refugee camps, farms, and colonies. For periods varying from one to four +years these free Negroes had been at work, often amid conditions highly +unfavorable to health, under the supervision of officers of the Treasury +Department or of the army. + +Emancipation was therefore a gradual process, and most of the Negroes, through +their widening experience on the plantations, with the armies, and in the +colonies, were better fitted for freedom in 1865 than they had been in 1861. +Even their years of bondage had done something for them, for they knew how to +work and they had adopted in part the language, habits, religion, and morals +of the whites. But slavery had not made them thrifty, self-reliant, or +educated. Frederick Douglass said of the Negro at the end of his servitude: +"He had none of the conditions of self-preservation or self-protection. He was +free from the individual master, but he had nothing but the dusty road under +his feet. He was free from the old quarter that once gave him shelter, but a +slave to the rains of summer and to the frosts of winter. He was turned loose, +naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky." To prove that he was free the +Negro thought he must leave his old master, change his name, quit work for a +time, perhaps get a new wife, and hang around the Federal soldiers in camp or +garrison, or go to the towns where the Freedmen's Bureau was in process of +organization. To the Negroes who remained at home--and, curiously enough, for +a time at least many did so--the news of freedom was made known somewhat +ceremonially by the master or his representative. The Negroes were summoned to +the "big house," told that they were free, and advised to stay on for a share +of the crop. The description by Mrs. Clayton, the wife of a Southern general, +will serve for many: "My husband said, 'I think it best for me to inform our +Negroes of their freedom.' So he ordered all the grown slaves to come to him, +and told them they no longer belonged to him as property, but were all free. +'You are not bound to remain with me any longer, and I have a proposition to +make to you. If any of you desire to leave, I propose to furnish you with a +conveyance to move you, and with provisions for the balance of the year.' The +universal answer was, 'Master, we want to stay right here with you.' In many +instances the slaves were so infatuated with the idea of being, as they said, +'free as birds' that they left their homes and consequently suffered; but our +slaves were not so foolish."* + +* "Black and White under the Old Regime", p. 158, + + +The Negroes, however, had learned of their freedom before their old masters +returned from the war; they were aware that the issues of the war involved in +some way the question of their freedom or servitude, and through the +"grapevine telegraph," the news brought by the invading soldiers, and the talk +among the whites, they had long been kept fairly well informed. What the idea +of freedom meant to the Negroes it is difficult to say. Some thought that +there would be no more work and that all would be cared for by the Government; +others believed that education and opportunity were about to make them the +equal of their masters. The majority of them were too bewildered to appreciate +anything except the fact that they were free from enforced labor. + +Conditions were most disturbed in the so-called "Black Belt," consisting of +about two hundred counties in the most fertile parts of the South, where the +plantation system was best developed and where by far the majority of the +Negroes were segregated. The Negroes in the four hundred more remote and less +fertile "white" counties, which had been less disturbed by armies, were not so +upset by freedom as those of the Black Belt, for the garrisons and the larger +towns, both centers of demoralization, were in or near the Black Belt. But +there was a moving to and fro on the part of those who had escaped from the +South or had been captured during the war or carried into the interior of the +South to prevent capture. To those who left slavery and home to find freedom +were added those who had found freedom and were now trying to get back home or +to get away from the Negro camps and colonies which were breaking up. A stream +of immigration which began to flow to the southwest affected Negroes as far as +the Atlantic coast. In the confusion of moving, families were broken up, and +children, wife, or husband were often lost to one another. The very old people +and the young children were often left behind for the former master to care +for. Regiments of Negro soldiers were mustered out in every large town and +their numbers were added to the disorderly mass. Some of the Federal garrisons +and Bureau stations were almost overwhelmed by the numbers of blacks who +settled down upon them waiting for freedom to bestow its full measure of +blessing, and many of the Negroes continued to remain in a demoralized +condition until the new year. + +The first year of freedom was indeed a year of disease, suffering, and death. +Several partial censuses indicate that in 1865-66 the Negro population lost as +many by disease as the whites had lost in war. Ill-fed, crowded in cabins near +the garrisons or entirely without shelter, and unaccustomed to caring for +their own health, the blacks who were searching for freedom fell an easy prey +to ordinary diseases and to epidemics. Poor health conditions prevailed for +several years longer. In 1870, Robert Somers remarked that "the health of the +whites has greatly improved since the war, while the health of the Negroes has +declined till the mortality of the colored population, greater than the +mortality of the whites was before the war, has now become so markedly +greater, that nearly two colored die for every white person out of equal +numbers of each." + +Morals and manners also suffered under the new dispensation. In the crowded +and disease-stricken towns and camps, the conditions under which the roving +Negroes lived were no better for morals than for health, for here there were +none of the restraints to which the blacks had been accustomed and which they +now despised as being a part of their servitude. But in spite of all the +relief that could be given there was much want. In fact, to restore former +conditions the relief agencies frequently cut off supplies in order to force +the Negroes back to work and to prevent others from leaving the country for +the towns. But the hungry freedmen turned to the nearest food supply, and +"spilin de gypshuns" (despoiling the Egyptians, as the Negroes called stealing +from the whites) became an approved means of support. Thefts of hogs, cattle, +poultry, field crops, and vegetables drove almost to desperation those whites +who lived in the vicinity of the Negro camps. When the ex-slave felt obliged +to go to town, he was likely to take with him a team and wagon and his +master's clothes if he could get them. + +The former good manners of the Negro were now replaced by impudence and +distrust. There were advisers among the Negro troops and other agitators who +assured them that politeness to whites was a mark of servitude. Pushing and +crowding in public places, on street cars and on the sidewalks, and impudent +speeches everywhere marked generally the limit of rudeness. And the Negroes +were, in this respect, perhaps no worse than those European immigrants who act +upon the principle that bad manners are a proof of independence. + +The year following emancipation was one of religious excitement for large +numbers of the blacks. Before 1865, the Negro church members were attached to +white congregations or were organized into missions, with nearly always a +white minister in charge and a black assistant. With the coming of freedom the +races very soon separated in religious matters. For this there were two +principal reasons: the Negro preachers could exercise more influence in +independent churches; and new church organizations from the North were seeking +Negro membership. Sometimes Negro members were urged to insist on the right +"to sit together" with the whites. In a Richmond church a Negro from the +street pushed his way to the communion altar and knelt. There was a noticeable +pause; then General Robert E. Lee went forward and knelt beside the Negro; and +the congregation followed his example. But this was a solitary instance. When +the race issue was raised by either color, the church membership usually +divided. There was much churchgoing by the Negroes, day and night, and church +festivities and baptisms were common. The blacks preferred immersion and, +wanted a new baptism each time they changed to a new church. Baptizings in +ponds, creeks, or rivers were great occasions and were largely attended. +"Shouting" the candidates went into the water and "shouting" they came out. +One old woman came up screaming, "Freed from slavery! freed from sin! Bless +God and General Grant!" + +In the effort to realize their new-found freedom, the Negroes were heavily +handicapped by their extreme poverty and their ignorance. The total value of +free Negro property ran up into the millions in 1860, but the majority of the +Negroes had nothing. There were a few educated Negroes in the South, and more +in the North and in Canada, but the mass of the race was too densely ignorant +to furnish its own leadership. The case, however, was not hopeless; the Negro +was able to work and in large territories had little competition; wages were +high, even though paid in shares of the crop; the cost of living was low; and +land was cheap. Thousands seemed thirsty for an education and crowded the +schools which were available. It was too much, however, to expect the Negro to +take immediate advantage of his opportunities. What he wanted was a long +holiday, a gun and a dog, and plenty of hunting and fishing. He must have +Saturday at least for a trip to town or to a picnic or a circus; he did not +wish to be a servant. When he had any money, swindlers reaped a harvest. They +sold him worthless finery, cheap guns, preparations to bleach the skin or +straighten the hair, and striped pegs which, when set up on the master's +plantation, would entitle the purchaser to "40 acres and a mule." + +The attitude of the Negroes' employers not infrequently complicated the +situation which they sought to better. The old masters were, as a rule, +skeptical of the value of free Negro labor. Carl Schurz thought this attitude +boded ill for the future: "A belief, conviction, or prejudice, or whatever you +may call it," he said, "so widely spread and apparently deeply rooted as this, +that the Negro will not work without physical compulsion, is certainly +calculated to have a very serious influence upon the conduct of the people +entertaining it. It naturally produced a desire to preserve slavery in its +original form as much and as long as possible . . . or to introduce into the +new system that element of physical compulsion which would make the Negro +work." The Negro wished to be free to leave his job when he pleased, but, as +Benjamin C. Truman stated in his report to President Johnson, a "result of the +settled belief in the Negro's inferiority, and in the necessity that he should +not be left to himself without a guardian, is that in some sections he is +discouraged from leaving his old master. I have known of planters who +considered it an offence against neighborhood courtesy for another to hire +their old hands, and in two instances that were reported the disputants came +to blows over the breach of etiquette." The new Freedmen's Bureau insisted +upon written contracts, except for day laborers, and this undoubtedly kept +many Negroes from working regularly, for they were suspicious of contracts. +Besides, the agitators and the Negro troops led them to hope for an eventual +distribution of property. An Alabama planter thus described the situation in +December 1865: + +"They will not work for anything but wages, and few are able to pay wages. +They are penniless but resolute in their demands. They expect to see all the +land divided out equally between them and their old masters in time to make +the next crop. One of the most intelligent black men I know told me that in a +neighboring village, where several hundred blacks were congregated, he does +not think that as many as three made contracts, although planters are urgent +in their solicitations and offering highest prices for labor they can possibly +afford to pay. The same man informed me that the impression widely prevails +that Congress is about to divide out the lands, and that this impression is +given out by Federal soldiers at the nearest military station. It cannot be +disguised that in spite of the most earnest efforts of their old master to +conciliate and satisfy them, the estrangement between races increases in its +extent and bitterness. Nearly all the Negro men are armed with repeaters, and +many of them carry them openly, day and night." + +The relations between the races were better, however, than conditions seemed +to indicate. The whites of the Black Belt were better disposed toward the +Negroes than were those of the white districts. It was in the towns and +villages that most of the race conflicts occurred. All whites agreed that the +Negro was inferior, but there were many who were grateful for his conduct +during the war and who wished him well. But others, the policemen of the +towns, the "loyalists," those who had little but pride of race and the vote to +distinguish them from the blacks, felt no good will toward the ex-slaves. It +was Truman's opinion "not only that the planters are far better friends to the +Negroes than the poor whites, but also better than a majority of the Northern +men who go South to rent plantations." John T. Trowbridge, the novelist, who +recorded his impressions of the South after a visit in 1865, was of the +opinion that the Unionists "do not like niggers." "For there is," he said, +"more prejudice against color among the middle and poorer classes--the Union +men of the South who owned few or no slaves--than among the planters who owned +them by scores and hundreds." The reports of the Freedmen's Bureau are to the +same effect. A Bureau agent in Tennessee testified: "An old citizen, a Union +man, said to me, said he, 'I tell you what, if you take away the military from +Tennessee, the buzzards can't eat up the niggers as fast as we'll kill them.'" + +The lawlessness of the Negroes in parts of the Black Belt and the disturbing +influences of the black troops, of some officials of the Bureau, and of some +of the missionary teachers and preachers, caused the whites to fear +insurrections and to take measures for protection. Secret semi-military +organizations were formed which later developed into the Ku Klux orders. When, +however, New Year's Day 1866 passed without the hoped-for distribution of +Property, the Negroes began to settle down. + +At the beginning of the period of reconstruction, it seemed possible that the +Negro race might speedily fall into distinct economic groups, for there were +some who had property and many others who had the ability and the opportunity +to acquire it; but the later drawing of race lines and the political +disturbances of reconstruction checked this tendency. It was expected also +that the Northern planters who came South in large numbers in 1865-66 might, +by controlling the Negro labor and by the use of more efficient methods, aid +in the economic upbuilding of the country. But they were ignorant of +agricultural matters and incapable of wisely controlling the blacks; and they +failed because at one time they placed too much trust in the Negroes and at +another treated them too harshly and expected too much of them. + +The question of Negro suffrage was not a live issue in the South until the +middle of 1866. There was almost no talk about it among the Negroes; they did +not know what it was. President Lincoln in 1864 and President Johnson in 1865 +had merely mentioned the subject, though Chief Justice Chase and prominent +radical members of Congress, as well as numerous abolitionists, had framed a +Negro suffrage platform. But the Southern whites, considering the matter an +impossibility, gave it little consideration. There was, however, both North +and South, a tendency to see a connection between the freedom of the Negroes +and their political rights and thus to confuse civil equality with political +and social privileges. But the great masses of the whites were solidly opposed +to the recognition of Negro equality in any form. The poorer whites, +especially the "Unionists" who hoped to develop an opposition party, were +angered by any discussion of the subject. An Alabama "Unionist," M. J. +Saffold, later prominent as a radical politician, declared to the Joint +Committee on Reconstruction: "If you compel us to carry through universal +suffrage of colored, men . . . it will prove quite an *incubus upon us in the +organization of a national union party of white men; it will furnish our +opponents with a very effective weapon of offense against us." + +There were, however, some Southern leaders of ability and standing who, by +1866, were willing to consider Negro suffrage. These men, among them General +Wade Hampton of South Carolina and Governor Robert Patton of Alabama, were of +the slaveholding class, and they fully counted on being able to control the +Negro's vote by methods similar to those actually put in force a quarter of a +century later. The Negroes were not as yet politically organized were not even +interested in politics, and the master class might reasonably hope to regain +control of them. Whitelaw Reid published an interview with one of the Hamptons +which describes the situation exactly: + +"A brother of General Wade Hampton, the South Carolina Hotspur, was on board. +He saw no great objection to Negro suffrage, so far as the whites were +concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist though he was, +he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its effect on the blacks +themselves. Hitherto they had in the main, been modest and respectful, and +mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. But the deference to them likely to +be shown by partisans eager for their votes would have a tendency to uplift +them and unbalance them. Beyond this, no harm would be done the South by Negro +suffrage. The old owners would cast the votes of their people almost as +absolutely and securely as they cast their own. If Northern men expected in +this way to build up a northern party in the South, they were gravely +mistaken. They would only be multiplying the power of the old and natural +leaders of Southern politics by giving every vote to a former slave. +Heretofore such men had served their masters only in the fields; now they +would do no less faithful service at the polls. If the North could stand it, +the South could. For himself, he should make no special objection to Negro +suffrage as one of the terms of reorganization, and if it came, he did not +think the South would have much cause to regret it." + +To sum up the situation at this time: the Negro population at the close of the +war constituted a tremendous problem for those in authority. The race was +free, but without status, without leaders, without property, and without +education. Probably a fourth of them had some experience in freedom before the +Confederate armies surrendered, and the servitude of the other three millions +ended very quickly and without violence. But in the Black Belt, where the bulk +of the black population was to be found, the labor system was broken up, and +for several months the bewildered freedmen wandered about or remained at home +under conditions which were bad for health, morals, and thrift. The Northern +Negroes did not furnish the expected leadership for the race, and the more +capable men in the South showed a tendency to go North. The unsettled state of +the Negroes and their expectation of receiving a part of the property of the +whites kept the latter uneasy and furnished the occasion of frequent +conflicts. Not the least of the unsettling influences at work upon the Negro +population were the colored troops and the agitators furnished by the +Freedmen's Bureau, the missions, and the Bureau schools. But at the beginning +of the year 1866, the situation appeared to be clearing, and the social and +economic revolution seemed on the way to a quieter ending than might have been +expected. + + + +CHAPTER III. THE WORK OF THE PRESIDENTS + +The war ended slavery, but it left the problem of the freed slave; it +preserved the Union in theory, but it left unsolved many delicate problems of +readjustment. Were the seceded States in or out of the Union? If in the Union, +what rights had they? If they were not in the Union, what was their status? +What was the status of the Southern Unionist, of the ex-Confederate? What +punishments should be inflicted upon the Southern people? What authority, +executive or legislative, should carry out the work of reconstruction? The end +of the war brought with it, in spite of much discussion, no clear answer to +these perplexing questions. + +Unfortunately, American political life, with its controversies over colonial +government, its conflicting interpretations of written constitutions, and its +legally trained statesmen, had by the middle of the nineteenth century +produced a habit of political thought which demanded the settlement of most +governmental matters upon a theoretical basis. And now in 1865, each prominent +leader had his own plan of reconstruction fundamentally irreconcilable with +all the others, because rigidly theoretical. During the war the powers of the +executive had been greatly expanded and a legislative reaction was to be +expected. The Constitution called for fresh interpretation in the light of the +Civil War and its results. + +The first theory of reconstruction may be found in the Crittenden-Johnson +resolutions of July 1861, which declared that the war was being waged to +maintain the Union under the Constitution and that it should cease when these +objects were obtained. This would have been subscribed to in 1861 by the Union +Democrats and by most of the Republicans, and in 1865 the conquered +Southerners would have been glad to reenter the Union upon this basis; but +though in 1865 the resolution still expressed the views of many Democrats, the +majority of Northern people had moved away from this position. + +The attitude of Lincoln, which in 1865 met the views of a majority of the +Northern people though not of the political leaders, was that "no State can +upon its mere motion get out of the Union," that the States survived though +there might be some doubt about state governments, and that "loyal" state +organizations might be established by a population consisting largely of +ex-Confederates who had been pardoned by the President and made "loyal" for +the future by an oath of allegiance. Reconstruction was, Lincoln thought, a +matter for the executive to handle. But that he was not inflexibly committed +to any one plan is indicated by his proclamation after the pocket veto of the +Wade-Davis Bill and by his last speech, in which he declared that the question +of whether the seceded States were in the Union or out of it was "merely a +pernicious abstraction." In addition, Lincoln said: + +"We are all agreed that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper +practical relation with the Union, and that the sole object of the government, +civil and military, in regard to those States is to again get them into that +proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact +easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether these States +have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at +home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let us +all join in doing the acts necessary to restore the proper practical relations +between these States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge +his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought the States from without +into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been +out of it." + +President Johnson's position was essentially that of Lincoln, but his attitude +toward the working out of the several problems was different. He maintained +that the states survived and that it was the duty of the executive to restore +them to their proper relations. "The true theory," said he, "is that all +pretended acts of secession were from the beginning null and void. The States +cannot commit treason nor screen individual citizens who may have committed +treason any more than they can make valid treaties or engage in lawful +commerce with any foreign power. The states attempting to secede placed +themselves in a condition where their vitality was impaired, but not +extinguished; their functions suspended, but not destroyed." Lincoln would +have had no severe punishments inflicted even on leaders, but Johnson wanted +to destroy the "slavocracy," root and branch. Confiscation of estates would, +he thought, be a proper measure. He said on one occasion: "Traitors should +take a back seat in the work of restoration .. . . My judgment is that he [a +rebel] should be subjected to a severe ordeal before he is restored to +citizenship. Treason should be made odious, and traitors must be punished and +impoverished. Their great plantations must be seized, and divided into small +farms and sold to honest, industrious men." The violence of Johnson's views +subsequently underwent considerable modification but to the last he held to +the plan of executive restoration based upon state perdurance. Neither Lincoln +nor Johnson favored a change of Southern institutions other than the abolition +of slavery, though each recommended a qualified Negro suffrage. + +There were, however, other theories in the field, notably those of the radical +Republican leaders. According to the state-suicide theory of Charles Sumner, +"any vote of secession or other act by which any State may undertake to put an +end to the supremacy of the Constitution within its territory is inoperative +and void against the Constitution, and when sustained by force it becomes a +practical ABDICATION by the State of all rights under the Constitution, while +the treason it involves still further works an instant FORFEITURE of all those +functions and powers essential to the continued existence of the State as a +body politic, so that from that time forward the territory falls under the +exclusive jurisdiction of Congress as other territory, and the State, being +according to the language of the law felo de se, ceases to exist." Congress +should punish the "rebels" by abolishing slavery, by giving civil and +political rights to Negroes, and by educating them with the whites. + +Not essentially different, but harsher, was Thaddeus Stevens's plans for +treating the South as a conquered foreign province. Let the victors treat the +seceded States "as conquered provinces and settle them with new men and +exterminate or drive out the present rebels as exiles." Congress in dealing +with these provinces was not bound even by the Constitution, "a bit of +worthless parchment," but might legislate as it pleased in regard to slavery, +the ballot, and confiscation. With regard to the white population, he said: "I +have never desired bloody punishments to any great extent. But there are +punishments quite as appalling, and longer remembered, than death. They are +more advisable, because they would reach a greater number. Strip a proud +nobility of their bloated estates; reduce them to a level with plain +republicans; send them forth to labor, and teach their children to enter the +workshops or handle a plow, and you will thus humble the proud traitors." +Stevens and Sumner agreed in reducing the Southern States to a territorial +status. Sumner would then take the principles of the Declaration of +Independence as a guide for Congress, while Stevens would leave Congress +absolute. Neither considered the Constitution as of any validity in this +crisis. + +As a rule the former abolitionists were in 1865 advocates of votes and lands +for the Negro, in whose capacity for self-rule they had complete confidence. +The view of Gerrit Smith may be regarded as typical of the abolitionist +position: + +"Let the first condition of peace with them be that no people in the rebel +States shall ever lose or gain civil or political rights by reason of their +race or origin. The next condition of peace be that our black allies in the +South--those saviours of our nation--shall share with their poor white +neighbors in the subdivisions of the large landed estates of the South. Let +the only other condition be that the rebel masses shall not, for say, a dozen +years, be allowed access to the ballot-box, or be eligible to office; and that +the like restrictions be for life on their political and military leaders . . +. . The mass of the Southern blacks fall, in point of intelligence, but +little, if any, behind the mass of the Southern whites . . . . In reference to +the qualifications of the voter, men make too much account of the head and too +little of the heart. The ballot-box, like God, says: "Give me your heart." The +best-hearted men are the best qualified to vote; and, in this light, the +blacks, with their characteristic gentleness, patience, and affectionateness, +are peculiarly entitled to vote. We cannot wonder at Swedenborg's belief that +the celestial people will be found in the interior of Africa; nor hardly can +we wonder at the legend that the gods came down every year to sup with their +favorite Africans." + +One of the most statesmanlike proposals was made by Governor John A. Andrew of +Massachusetts. If, forgetting their theories, the conservatives could have +united in support of a restoration conceived in his spirit, the goal might +have been speedily achieved. Andrew demanded a reorganization, based upon +acceptance of the results of the war, but carried through with the aid of +"those who are by their intelligence and character the natural leaders of +their people and who surely will lead them by and by. "These men cannot be +kept out forever, said he, for the capacity of leadership is a gift, not a +device. They whose courage, talents, and will entitle them to lead, will lead +. . . . If we cannot gain their support of the just measures needful for the +work of safe reorganization, reorganization will be delusive and full of +danger. They are the most hopeful subjects to deal with. They have the brain +and the experience and the education to enable them to understand . . . the +present situation. They have the courage as well as the skill to lead the +people in the direction their judgments point . . . . Is it consistent with +reason and our knowledge of human nature, to believe the masses of Southern +men able to face about, to turn their backs on those they have trusted and +followed, and to adopt the lead of those who have no magnetic hold on their +hearts or minds? It would be idle to reorganize by the colored vote. If the +popular vote of the white race is not to be had in favor of the guarantees +justly required, then I am in favor of holding on--just where we are now. I am +not in favor of a surrender of the present rights of the Union to a struggle +between a white minority aided by the freedmen on one hand, against the +majority of the white race on the other. I would not consent, having rescued +those states by arms from Secession and rebellion, to turn them over to +anarchy and chaos." + +The Southerners, Unionists as well as Confederates, had their views as well, +but at Washington these carried little influence. The former Confederates +would naturally favor the plan which promised best for the white South, and +their views were most nearly met by those of President Lincoln. Although he +held that in principle a new Union had arisen out of the war, as a matter of +immediate political expediency he was prepared to build on the assumption that +the old Union still existed. The Southern Unionists cared little for theories; +they wanted the Confederates punished, themselves promoted to high offices, +and the Negro kept from the ballot box. + +Even at the beginning of 1866, it was not too much to hope that the majority +of former Republicans would accept conservative methods, provided the +so-called "fruits of the war" were assured--that is, equality of civil rights, +the guarantee of the United States war debt, the repudiation of the +Confederate debt, the temporary disfranchisement of the leading Confederates, +and some arrangement which would keep the South from profiting by +representation based on the non-voting Negro population. But amid many +conflicting policies, none attained to continuous and compelling authority. + +The plan first put to trial was that of President Lincoln. It was a definite +plan designed to meet actual conditions and, had he lived, he might have been +able to carry it through successfully. Not a theorist, but an opportunist of +the highest type, sobered by years of responsibility in war time, and fully +understanding the precarious situation in 1865, Lincoln was most anxious to +secure an early restoration of solidarity with as little friction as possible. +Better than most Union leaders he appreciated conditions in the South, the +problem of the races, the weakness of the Southern Unionists, and the +advantage of calling in the old Southern leaders. He was generous and +considerate; he wanted no executions or imprisonments; he wished the leaders +to escape; and he was anxious that the mass of Southerners be welcomed back +without loss of rights. "There is," he declared, "too little respect for their +rights," an unwillingness, in short, to treat them as fellow citizens. + +This executive policy had been applied from the beginning of the war as +opportunity offered. The President used the army to hold the Border States in +the Union, to aid in "reorganizing" Unionist Virginia and in establishing West +Virginia. The army, used to preserve the Union might be used also to restore +disturbed parts of it to normal condition. Assuming that the "States" still +existed, "loyal" state governments were the first necessity. By his +proclamation of December 8, 1863, Lincoln suggested a method of beginning the +reconstruction: he would pardon any Confederate, except specified classes of +leaders, who took an oath of loyalty for the future; if as many as ten percent +of the voting population of 1860, thus made loyal, should establish a state +government the executive would recognize it. The matter of slavery must, +indeed, be left to the laws and proclamations as interpreted by the courts, +but other institutions should continue as in 1861. + +This plan was inaugurated in four States which had been in part controlled by +the Federal army from nearly the beginning of the war: Tennessee (1862), +Louisiana (1862), Arkansas (1862), and Virginia after the formation of West +Virginia (1863). For each state Lincoln appointed a military governor: for +Tennessee, Andrew Johnson; for Arkansas, John S. Phelps; for Louisiana, +General Shepley. In Virginia he recognized the "reorganized" government, which +had been transferred to Alexandria when the new State of West Virginia was +formed. The military governors undertook the slow and difficult work of +reorganization, however, with but slight success owing to the small numbers of +Unionists and of Confederates who would take the oath. But by 1864, "ten +percent" state governments were established in Arkansas and Louisiana, and +progress was being made in Tennessee. + +Congress was impatient of Lincoln's claim to executive precedence in the +matter of reconstruction, and in 1864, both Houses passed the Wade-Davis Bill, +a plan which asserted the right of Congress to control reconstruction and +foreshadowed a radical settlement of the question. Lincoln disposed of the +bill by a pocket veto and, in a proclamation dated July 8, 1864, stated that +he was unprepared "to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of +restoration," or to discourage loyal citizens by setting aside the governments +already established in Louisiana and Arkansas, or to recognize the authority +of Congress to abolish slavery. He was ready, however, to cooperate with the +people of any State who wished to accept the plan prepared by Congress and he +hoped that a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery would be adopted. + +Lincoln early came to the conclusion that slavery must be destroyed, and he +had urgently advocated deportation of the freedmen, for he believed that the +two races could not live in harmony after emancipation. The nearest he came to +recommending the vote for the Negro was in a communication to Governor Hahn of +Louisiana in March 1864: "I barely suggest, for your private consideration, +whether some of the colored people may not be let in, as for instance, the +very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. +They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of +liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to +the public, but to you alone." + +Throughout the war President Lincoln assumed that the state organizations in +the South were illegal because disloyal and that new governments must be +established. But just at the close of the war, probably carried away by +feeling, he all but recognized the Virginia Confederate Government as +competent to bring the state back into the Union. While in Richmond on April +5, 1865, he gave to Judge Campbell a statement of terms: the national +authority to be restored; no recession on slavery by the executive; hostile +forces to disband. The next day he notified General Weitzel, in command at +Richmond, that he might permit the Virginia Legislature to meet and withdraw +military and other support from the Confederacy. But these measures met strong +opposition in Washington, especially from Secretary Stanton and Senator Wade +and other congressional leaders, and on the 11th of April, Lincoln withdrew +his permission for the legislature to meet. "I cannot go forward," he said, +"with everybody opposed to me." It was on the same day that he made his last +public speech, and Sumner, who was strongly opposed to his policy, remarked +that "the President's speech and other things augur confusion and uncertainty +in the future, with hot contumacy." At a cabinet meeting on the 14th of April, +Lincoln made his last statement on the subject. It was fortunate, he said, +that Congress had adjourned, for "we shall reanimate the States" before +Congress meets; there should be no killing, no persecutions; there was too +much disposition to treat the Southern people "not as fellow citizens." + +The possibility of a conciliatory restoration ended when Lincoln was +assassinated. Moderate, firm, tactful, of great personal influence, not a +doctrinaire, and not a Southerner like Johnson, Lincoln might have "prosecuted +peace" successfully. His policy was very unlike that proposed by the radical +leaders. They would base the new governments upon the loyalty of the past plus +the aid of enfranchised slaves; he would establish the new regime upon the +loyalty of the future. Like Governor Andrew he thought that restoration must +be effected by the willing efforts of the South. He would aid and guide but +not force the people. If the latter did not wish restoration, they might +remain under military rule. There should be no forced Negro suffrage, no +sweeping disfranchisement of whites, no "carpetbaggism." + +The work of President Johnson demands for its proper understanding some +consideration of the condition of the political parties at the close of the +war, for politics had much to do with reconstruction. The Democratic party, +divided and defeated in the election of 1860, lost its Southern members in +1861 by the secession and remained a minority party during the remainder of +the war. It retained its organization, however, and in 1864 polled a large +vote. Discredited by its policy of opposition to Lincoln's administration, its +ablest leaders joined the Republicans in support of the war. Until 1869, the +party was poorly represented in Congress although, as soon as hostilities +ended, the War Democrats showed a tendency to return to the old party. As to +reconstruction, the party stood on the Crittenden-Johnson resolutions of 1861, +though most Democrats were now willing to have slavery abolished. + +The Republican party--frankly sectional and going into power on the single +issue of opposition to the extension of slavery--was forced by the secession +movement to take up the task of preserving the Union by war. Consequently, the +party developed new principles, welcomed the aid of the War Democrats, and +found it advisable to drop its name and with its allies to form the Union or +National Union party. It was this National Union party which in 1864 nominated +Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, on the same +ticket. Lincoln's second Cabinet was composed of both Republicans and War +Democrats. When the war ended, the conservative leaders were anxious to hold +the Union party together in order to be in a better position to settle the +problems of reconstruction, but the movement of the War Democrats back to +their old party tended to leave in the Union party only its Republican +members, with the radical leaders dominating. + +In the South the pressure of war so united the people that party divisions +disappeared for a time, but the causes of division continued to exist, and two +parties, at least, would have developed had the pressure been removed. Though +all factions supported the war after it began, the former Whigs and Douglas +Democrats, when it was over, liked to remember that they had been "Union" men +in 1860 and expected to organize in opposition to the extreme Democrats, who +were now charged with being responsible for the misfortunes of the South. They +were in a position to affiliate with the National Union party of the North if +proper inducements were offered, while the regular Democrats were ready to +rejoin their old party. But the embittered feelings resulting from the murder +of Lincoln and the rapid development of the struggle between President Johnson +and Congress caused the radicals "to lump the old Union Democrats and Whigs +together with the secessionists--and many were driven where they did not want +to go, into temporary affiliation with the Democratic party." Thousands went +very reluctantly; the old Whigs, indeed, were not firmly committed to the +Democrats until radical reconstruction had actually begun. Still other +"loyalists" in the South were prepared to join the Northern radicals in +advocating the disfranchisement of Confederates and in opposing the granting +of suffrage to the Negroes. + +The man upon whom fell the task of leading these opposing factions, radical +and conservative, along a definite line of action looking to reunion had few +qualifications for the task. Johnson was ill-educated, narrow, and vindictive +and was positive that those who did not agree with him were dishonest. Himself +a Southerner, picked up by the National Union Convention of 1864, as Thaddeus +Stevens said, from "one of those damned rebel provinces," he loved the Union, +worshiped the Constitution, and held to the strict construction views of the +State Rights Democrats. Rising from humble beginnings, he was animated by the +most intense dislike of the "slavocracy," as he called the political +aristocracy of the South. Like many other American leaders he was proud of his +humble origin, but unlike many others he never sloughed off his backwoods +crudeness. He continually boasted of himself and vilified the aristocrats, who +in return treated him badly. His dislike of them was so marked that Isham G. +Harris, a rival politician, remarked that "if Johnson were a snake, he would +lie in the grass to bite the heels of rich men's children." His primitive +notions of punishment were evident in 1865 when he advocated imprisonment, +execution, and confiscation; but like other reckless talkers he often said +more than he meant. + +When Johnson succeeded to the presidency, the feeling was nearly universal +among the radicals, according to Julian, that he would prove a godsend to the +country, for "aside from Mr. Lincoln's known policy of tenderness to the +rebels, which now so jarred upon the feelings of the hour, his well known +views on the subject of reconstruction were as distasteful as possible to +radical Republicans." Senator Wade declared to the President: "Johnson, we +have faith in you. By the gods, there will be no trouble now in running the +Government!" To which Johnson replied: "Treason is a crime and crime must be +punished. Treason must be made infamous and traitors must be impoverished." +These words are an index to the speeches of Johnson during 1863-65. Even his +radical friends feared that he would be too vindictive. For a few weeks he was +much inclined to the radical plans, and some of the leaders certainly +understood that he was in favor of Negro suffrage, the supreme test of +radicalism. But when the excitement caused by the assassination of Lincoln and +the break-up of the Confederacy had moderated somewhat, Johnson saw before him +a task so great that his desire for violent measures was chilled. He must +disband the great armies and bring all war work to an end; he must restore +intercourse with the South, which had been blockaded for years; he must for a +time police the country, look after the Negroes, and set up a temporary civil +government; and finally he must work out a restoration of the Union. Sobered +by responsibility and by the influence of moderate advisers, he rather quickly +adopted Lincoln's policy. Johnson at first set his face against the movements +toward reconstruction by the state governments already organized and by those +people who wished to organize new governments on Lincoln's ten percent plan. +As soon as possible the War Department notified the Union commanders to stop +all attempts at reconstruction and to pursue and arrest all Confederate +governors and other prominent civil leaders. The President was even anxious to +arrest the military leaders who had been paroled but was checked in this +desire by General Grant's firm protest. His cabinet advisers supported Johnson +in refusing to recognize the Southern state governments; but three of +them--Seward, Welles, and McCulloch--were influential in moderating his zeal +for inflicting punishments. Nevertheless,he soon had in prison the most +prominent of the Confederate civilians and several general officers. The +soldiers, however, were sent home, trade with the South was permitted, and the +Freedmen's Bureau was rapidly extended. + +Previous to this Johnson had brought himself to recognize, early in May, the +Lincoln "ten percent" governments of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas, and +the reconstructed Alexandria government of Virginia. Thus only seven states +were left without legal governments, and to bring those states back into the +Union, Johnson inaugurated on May 29, 1865, a plan which was like that of +Lincoln but not quite so liberal. In his Amnesty Proclamation, Johnson made a +longer list of exceptions aimed especially at the once wealthy slave owners. +On the same day he proclaimed the restoration of North Carolina. A provisional +governor, W. W. Holden, was appointed and directed to reorganize the civil +government and to call a constitutional convention elected by those who had +taken the amnesty oath. This convention was to make necessary amendments to +the constitution and to "restore said State to its constitutional relations to +the Federal Government." It is to be noted that Johnson fixed the +qualifications of delegates and of those who elected them, but, this stage +once passed, the convention or the legislature would "prescribe the +qualifications of electors . . . a power the people of the several States +composing the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the origin of the +government to the present time." The President also directed the various +cabinet officers to extend the work of their departments over the Confederate +States and ordered the army officers to assist the civil authorities. During +the next six weeks, similar measures were undertaken for the remaining six +states of the Confederacy. + +To set up the new order, army officers were first sent into every county to +administer the amnesty oath and thus to secure a "loyal" electorate. In each +state the provisional governor organized out of the remains of the Confederate +local regime a new civil government. Confederate local officials who could and +would take the amnesty oath were directed to resume office until relieved; the +laws of 1861, except those relating to slavery, were declared to be in force; +the courts were directed to use special efforts to crush lawlessness; and the +old jury lists were destroyed and new ones were drawn up containing only the +names of those who had taken the amnesty oath. Since there was no money in any +state treasury, small sums were now raised by license taxes. A full staff of +department heads was appointed, and by July 1865, the provisional governments +were in fair working order. + +To the constitutional conventions, which met in the fall, it was made clear, +through the governors, that the President would insist upon three conditions: +the formal abolition of slavery, the repudiation of the ordinance of +secession, and the repudiation of the Confederate war debt. To Governor Holden +he telegraphed: "Every dollar of the debt created to aid the rebellion against +the United States should be repudiated finally and forever. The great mass of +the people should not be taxed to pay a debt to aid in carrying on a rebellion +which they in fact, if left to themselves, were opposed to. Let those who had +given their means for the obligations of the state look to that power they +tried to establish in violation of law, constitution, and will of the people. +They must meet their fate." With little opposition these conditions were +fulfilled, though there was a strong feeling against the repudiation of the +debt, much discussion as to whether the ordinance of secession should be +"repealed" or declared "now and always null and void," and some quibbling as +to whether slavery was being destroyed by state action or had already been +destroyed by war. + +In the old state constitutions, very slight changes were made. Of these the +chief were concerned with the abolition of slavery and the arrangement of +representation and direct taxation on the basis of white population. Little +effort was made to settle any of the Negro problems, and in all states the +conventions left it to the legislatures to make laws for the freedmen. There +was no discussion of Negro, suffrage in the conventions, but President Johnson +sent what was for him a remarkable communication to Governor Sharkey of +Mississippi: + +"If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can +read the Constitution of the United States in English and write their names, +and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than two +hundred and fifty dollars and pay taxes thereon, you would completely disarm +the adversary and set an example the other states will follow. This you can do +with perfect safety, and you would thus place Southern States in reference to +free persons of color upon the same basis with the free states . . . . And as +a consequence the radicals, who are wild upon Negro franchise, will be +completely foiled in their attempts to keep the Southern states from renewing +their relations to the Union by not accepting their senators and +representatives." + +In deciding upon a basis of representation, it was clear that the majority of +delegates desired to lessen the influence of the Black Belt and place the +control of the government with the "up country." In the Alabama convention +Robert M. Patton, then a delegate and later governor, frankly avowed this +object, and in South Carolina, Governor Perry urged the convention to give no +consideration to Negro suffrage, "because this is a white man's government," +and if the Negroes should vote they would be controlled by a few whites. A +kindly disposition toward the Negroes was general except on the part of +extreme Unionists, who opposed any favors to the race. "This is a white man's +country" was a doctrine to which all the conventions subscribed. + +The conventions held brief sessions, completed their work, and adjourned, +after directing that elections be held for state and local officers and for +members of Congress. Before December the appointed local officials had been +succeeded by elected officers; members of Congress were on their way to +Washington; the state legislatures were assembling or already in session; and +the elected governors were ready to take office. It was understood that as +soon as enough state legislatures ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to make it +a part of the Constitution, the President would permit the transfer of +authority to the new governors. The legislature of Mississippi alone was +recalcitrant about the amendment, and before January 1866, the elected +officials were everywhere installed except in Texas, where the work was not +completed until March. When Congress met in December 1865, the President +reported that all former Confederate States except Texas were ready to be +readmitted. Congress, however, refused to admit their senators and +representatives, and thus began the struggle which ended over a year later +with the victory of the radicals and the undoing of the work of the two +Presidents. + +The plan of the Presidents was at best only imperfectly realized. It was found +impossible to reorganize the Federal Administration in the South with men who +could subscribe to the "ironclad oath," for nearly all who were competent to +hold office had favored or aided the Confederacy. It was two years before more +than a third of the post offices could be opened. The other Federal +departments were in similar difficulties, and at last women and +"carpetbaggers" were appointed. The Freedmen's Bureau, which had been +established coincidently with the provisional governments, assumed +jurisdiction over the Negroes, while the army authorities very early took the +position that any man who claimed to be a Unionist should not be tried in the +local courts but must be given a better chance in a provost court. Thus a +third or more of the population was withdrawn from the control of the state +government. In several states the head of the Bureau made arrangements for +local magistrates and officials to act as Bureau officials, and in such cases +the two authorities acted in cooperation. The army of occupation, too, exerted +an authority which not infrequently interfered with the workings of the new +state government. Nearly everywhere there was a lack of certainty and +efficiency due to the concurrent and sometimes conflicting jurisdictions of +state government, army commanders, Bureau authorities, and even the President +acting upon or through any of the others. + +The standing of the Southern state organizations was in doubt after the +refusal of Congress to recognize them. Nevertheless, in spite of this +uncertainty they continued to function as states during the year of +controversy which followed; the courts were opened and steadily grew in +influence; here and there militia and patrols were reorganized; officials who +refused to "accept the situation" were dismissed; elections were held; the +legislatures revised the laws to fit new conditions and enacted new laws for +the emancipated blacks. To all this progress in reorganization, the action of +Congress was a severe blow, since it gave notice that none of the problems of +reconstruction were yet solved. An increasing spirit of irritation and +independence was observed throughout the states in question, and at the +elections the former Confederates gained more and more offices. The year was +marked in the South by the tendency toward the formation of parties, by the +development of the "Southern outrages" issue, by an attempt to frustrate +radical action, and finally by a lineup of the great mass of the whites in +opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment and other radical plans of Congress. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction, appointed when Congress refused to +accept the work of President Johnson, proceeded during several months to take +testimony and to consider measures. The testimony, which was taken chiefly to +support opinions already formed, appeared to prove that the Negroes and the +Unionists were so badly treated that the Freedmen's Bureau and the army must +be kept in the South to protect them; that free Negro labor was a success but +that the whites were hostile to it; that the whites were disloyal and would, +if given control of the Southern governments and admitted to Congress, +constitute a danger to the nation and especially to the party in power. + +To convince the voters of the North of the necessity of dealing drastically +with the South a campaign of misrepresentation was begun in the summer of +1865, which became more and more systematic and unscrupulous as the political +struggle at Washington grew fiercer. Newspapers regularly ran columns headed +"Southern Outrages," and every conceivable mistreatment of blacks by whites +was represented as taking place on a large scale. As General Richard Taylor +said, it would seem that about 1866 every white man, woman, and child in the +South began killing and maltreating Negroes. In truth, there was less and less +ground for objection to the treatment of the blacks as time went on and as the +several agencies of government secured firmer control over the lawless +elements. But fortunately for the radicals their contention seemed to be +established by riots on a large scale in Memphis and New Orleans where Negroes +were killed and injured in much greater number than whites. + +The rapid development of the radical plans of Congress checked the tendency +toward political division in the South. Only a small party of rabid Unionists +would now affiliate with the radicals, while all the others reluctantly held +together, endorsed Johnson's policy, and attempted to affiliate with the +disintegrating National Union party. But the defeat of the President's +policies in the elections of 1866, the increasing radicalism of Congress as +shown by the Civil Rights Act, the expansion of the Freedmen's Bureau, the +report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, and the proposal of the +Fourteenth Amendment led farsighted Southerners to see that the President was +likely to lose in his fight with Congress. + +Now began, in the latter half of 1866, with some cooperation in the North and +probably with the approval of the President, a movement in the South to +forestall the radicals by means of a settlement which, although less severe +than the proposed Fourteenth Amendment, might yet be acceptable to Congress. +One feature of the settlement was to be some form of Negro suffrage, either by +local action or by constitutional amendment. Those behind this scheme were +mainly of the former governing class. Negro suffrage, they thought, would take +the wind out of the radical sails, the Southern whites would soon be able to +control the blacks, representation in Congress would be increased, and the +Black Belt would perhaps regain its former political hegemony. It is hardly +necessary to say that the majority of the whites were solidly opposed to such +a measure. But it was hoped to carry it under pressure through the legislature +or to bring it about indirectly through rulings of the Freedmen's Bureau. + +Coincident with this scheme of partial Negro suffrage an attempt was made by +the conservative leaders in Washington, working with the Southerners, to +propose a revised Fourteenth Amendment which would give the vote to competent +Negroes and not disfranchise the whites. A conference of Southern governors +met in Washington early in 1867 and drafted such an amendment. But, it was too +late. + +Meanwhile the Fourteenth Amendment submitted by Congress had been brought +before the Southern legislatures, and during the winter of 1866-67 it was +rejected by all of them. There was strong opposition to it because it +disfranchised the leading whites, but perhaps the principal reason for its +rejection was that the Southern people were not sure that still more severe +conditions might not be imposed later. + +While the President was "restoring" the states which had seceded and +struggling with Congress, the Border States of the South, including Tennessee +(which was admitted in 1866 by reason of its radical state government), were +also in the throes of reconstruction. Though there was less military +interference in these than in the other states, many of the problems were +similar. All had the Freedmen's Bureau, the Negro race, the Unionists, and the +Confederates; in every state, except Kentucky, Confederates were persecuted, +the minority was in control, and "ring" rule was the order of the day; but in +each state there were signs of the political revolution which a few years +later was to put the radicals out of power. + +The executive plan for the restoration of the Union, begun by Lincoln and +adopted by Johnson, was, as we have seen, at first applied in all the states +which had seceded. A military governor was appointed in each state by the +President by virtue of his authority as commander in chief. This official, +aided by a civilian staff of his own choice and supported by the United States +army and other Federal agencies, reorganized the state administration and +after a few months turned the state and local governments over to regularly +elected officials. Restoration should now have been completed, but Congress +refused to admit the senators and representatives of these states, and entered +upon a fifteen months' struggle with the President over details of the methods +of the reconstruction. Meanwhile the Southern States, though unrepresented in +Congress, continued their activities, with some interference from Federal +authorities, until Congress in 1867 declared their governments nonexistent. + +The work begun by Lincoln and Johnson deserved better success. The original +plan restored to political rights only a small number of Unionists, the +lukewarm Confederates, and the unimportant. But in spite of the threatening +speeches of Johnson, he used his power of pardon until none except the most +prominent leaders were excluded. The personnel of the Johnson governments was +fair. The officials were, in the main, former Douglas Democrats and Whigs, +respectable and conservative, but not admired or loved by the people. The +conventions and the legislatures were orderly and dignified and manifested a +desire to accept the situation. + +There were no political parties at first, but material for several existed. If +things had been allowed to take their course, there would have arisen a normal +cleavage between former Whigs and Democrats, between the upcountry and the low +country, between the slaveholders and the nonslaveholders. The average white +man in these governments was willing to be fair to the Negro but was not +greatly concerned about his future. In the view of most white people, it was +the white man who was emancipated. The white districts had no desire to let +the power return to the Black Belt by giving the Negro the ballot, for the +vote of the Negroes, they believed, would be controlled by their former +masters. + +Johnson's adoption of Lincoln's plan gave notice to all that the radicals had +failed to control him. He and they had little in common; they wished to uproot +a civilization, while he wished to punish individuals; they were not troubled +by constitutional scruples, while he was the strictest of State Rights +Democrats; they thought principally of the Negro and his potentialities, while +Johnson was thinking of the emancipated white man. It is possible that Lincoln +might have succeeded, but for Johnson the task proved too great. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE WARDS OF THE NATION + +The Negroes at the close of the war were not slaves or serfs, nor were they +citizens. What was to be done with them and for them? The Southern answer to +this question may be found in the so- called "Black Laws," which were enacted +by the state governments set up by President Johnson. The views of the +dominant North may be discerned in part in the organization and administration +of the Freedmen's Bureau. The two sections saw the same problem from different +angles, and their proposed solutions were of necessity opposed in principle +and in practice. + +The South desired to fit the emancipated Negro race into the new social order +by frankly recognizing his inferiority to the whites. In some things racial +separation was unavoidable. New legislation consequently must be enacted, +because the slave codes were obsolete; because the old laws made for the small +free Negro class did not meet present conditions; and because the emancipated +blacks could not be brought conveniently and at once under laws originally +devised for a white population. The new laws must meet many needs; family +life, morals, and conduct must be regulated; the former slave must be given a +status in court in order that he might be protected in person and property; +the old, the infirm, and the orphans must be cared for; the white race must be +protected from lawless blacks and the blacks from unscrupulous and violent +whites; the Negro must have an opportunity for education; and the roving +blacks must be forced to get homes, settle down, and go to work. + +Pending such legislation the affairs of the Negro remained in control of the +unpopular Freedmen's Bureau--a "system of espionage," as Judge Clayton of +Alabama called it, and, according to Governor Humphreys of Mississippi, "a +hideous curse" under which white men were persecuted and pillaged. Judge +Memminger of South Carolina, in a letter to President Johnson, emphasized the +fact that the whites of England and the United States gained civil and +political rights through centuries of slow advancement and that they were far +ahead of the people of European states. Consequently, it would be a mistake to +give the freedmen a status equal to that of the most advanced whites. Rather, +let the United States profit by the experience of the British in their +emancipation policies and arrange a system of apprenticeship for a period of +transition. When the Negro should be fit, let him be advanced to citizenship. + +Most Southern leaders agreed that the removal of the master's protection was a +real loss to the Negro which must be made good to some extent by giving the +Negro a status in court and by accepting Negro testimony in all cases in which +blacks were concerned. The North Carolina committee on laws for freedmen +agreed with objectors that "there are comparatively few of the slaves lately +freed who are honest" and truthful, but maintained that the Negroes were +capable of improvement. The chief executives of Mississippi and Florida +declared that there was no danger to the whites in admitting the more or less +unreliable Negro testimony, for the courts and juries would in every case +arrive at a proper valuation of it. Governors Marvin of Florida and Humphreys +of Mississippi advocated practical civil equality, while in North Carolina and +several other States there was a disposition to admit Negro testimony only in +cases in which Negroes were concerned. The North Carolina committee +recommended the abolition of whipping as a punishment unfit for free people, +and most States accepted this principle. Even in 1865, the general disposition +was to make uniform laws for both races, except in regard to violation of +contracts, immoral conduct, vagrancy, marriage, schools, and forms of +punishment. In some of these matters the whites were to be more strictly +regulated; in others, the Negroes. + +There was further general agreement that in economic relations both races must +be protected, each from the other; but it is plain that the leaders believed +that the Negro had less at stake than the white. The Negro was disposed to be +indolent; he knew little of the obligations of contracts; he was not honest; +and he would leave his job at will. Consequently Memminger recommended +apprenticeship for all Negroes; Governor Marvin suggested it for children +alone; and others wished it provided for orphans only. Further, the laws +enacted must force the Negroes to settle down, to work, and to hold to +contracts. Memminger showed that, without legislation to enforce contracts and +to secure eviction of those who refused to work, the white planter in the +South was wholly at the mercy of the Negro. The plantations were scattered, +the laborers' houses were already occupied, and there was no labor market to +which a planter could go if the laborers deserted his fields. + +What would the Negro become if these leaders of reconstruction were to have +their way? Something better than a serf, something less than a citizen--a +second degree citizen, perhaps, with legal rights about equal to those of +white women and children. Governor Marvin hoped to make of the race a good +agricultural peasantry; his successor was anxious that the blacks should be +preferred to European immigrants; others agreed with Memminger that after +training and education he might be advanced to full citizenship. + +These opinions are representative of those held by the men who, Memminger +excepted, were placed in charge of affairs by President Johnson and who were +not especially in sympathy with the Negroes or with the planters but rather +with the average white. All believed that emancipation was a mistake, but all +agreed that "it is not the Negro's fault" and gave no evidence of a +disposition to perpetuate slavery under another name. + +The legislation finally framed showed in its discriminatory features the +combined influence of the old laws for free Negroes, the vagrancy laws of +North and South for whites, the customs of slavery times, the British West +Indies legislation for ex-slaves, and the regulations of the United States War +and Treasury Departments and of the Freedmen's Bureau--all modified and +elaborated by the Southern whites. In only two states, Mississippi and South +Carolina, did the legislation bulk large in quantity; in other states +discriminating laws were few; in still other states none were passed except +those defining race and prohibiting intermarriage. + +In all of the state laws there were certain common characteristics, among +which were the following: the descendant of a Negro was to be classed as a +Negro through the third generation,* even though one parent in each generation +was white; intermarriage of the races was prohibited; existing slave marriages +were declared valid and for the future marriage was generally made easier for +the blacks than for the whites. In all states the Negro was given his day in +court, and in cases relating to Negroes his testimony was accepted; in six +states he might testify in any case. When provision was made for schooling, +the rule of race separation was enforced. In Mississippi the "Jim Crow car," +or separate car for Negroes, was invented. In several states the Negro had to +have a license to carry weapons, to preach, or to engage in trade. In +Mississippi, a Negro could own land only in town; in other states he could +purchase land only in the country. Why the difference? No one knows and +probably few knew at the time. Some of the legislation was undoubtedly hasty +and ill-considered. + +* Fourth in Tennessee. + + +But the laws relating to apprenticeship, vagrancy, and enforced punitive +employment turned out to be of greater practical importance. On these subjects +the legislation of Mississippi and South Carolina was the most extreme. In +Mississippi orphans- orphans were to be bound out, preferably to a former +master, if "he or she shall be a suitable person." The master was given the +usual control over apprentices and was bound by the usual duties, including +that of teaching the apprentice. But the penalties for "enticing away" +apprentices were severe. The South Carolina statute was not essentially +different. The vagrancy laws of these two states were in the main the same for +both races, but in Mississippi the definition of vagrancy was enlarged to +include Negroes not at work, those "found unlawfully assembling themselves +together," and "all white persons assembling themselves with freedmen." It is +to be noted that nearly all punishment for petty offenses took the form of +hiring out, preferably to the former master or employer. The principal petty +offenses were, it would seem, vagrancy and "enticing away" laborers or +apprentices. The South Carolina statute contains some other interesting +provisions. A Negro, man or woman, who had enjoyed the companionship of two or +more spouses, must by April 1, 1866, select one of them as a permanent +partner; a farm laborer must "rise at dawn," feed the animals, care for the +property, be quiet and orderly, and "retire at reasonable hours;" on Sunday +the servants must take turns in doing the necessary work, and they must be +respectful and civil to the "master and his family, guests, and agents;" to +engage in skilled labor the Negro must obtain a license. Whipping and the +pillory were permitted in Florida for certain offenses, and in South Carolina +the master might "moderately correct" servants under eighteen years of age. +Other punishments were generally the same for both races, except the hiring +out for petty offenses. + +From the Southern point of view none of this legislation was regarded as a +restriction of Negro rights but as a wide extension to the Negro of rights +never before possessed, an adaptation of the white man's laws to his peculiar +case. It is doubtful whether in some of the states the authorities believed +that there were any discriminatory laws; they probably overlooked some of the +free Negro legislation already on the statute books. In Alabama, for example, +General Wager Swayne, the head of the Freedmen's Bureau, reported that all +such laws had either been dropped by the legislature or had been vetoed by the +governor. Yet the statute books do show some discriminations. There is a +marked difference between earlier and later legislation. The more stringent +laws were enacted before the end of 1865. After New Year's Day had passed and +the Negroes had begun to settle down, the legislatures either passed mild laws +or abandoned all special legislation for the Negroes. Later in 1866, several +states repealed the legislation of 1865. + +In so far as the "Black Laws" discriminated against the Negro they were never +enforced but were suspended from the beginning by the army and the Freedmen's +Bureau. They had, however, a very important effect upon that section of +Northern opinion which was already suspicious of the good faith of the +Southerners. They were part of a plan, some believed, to reenslave the Negro +or at least to create by law a class of serfs. This belief did much to bring +about later radical legislation. + +If the "Black Laws" represented the reaction of the Southern legislatures to +racial conditions, the Freedmen's Bureau was the corresponding result of the +interest taken by the North in the welfare of the Negro. It was established +just as the war was closing and arose out of the various attempts to meet the +Negro problems that arose during the war. The Bureau had always a dual nature, +due in part to its inheritance of regulations, precedents, and traditions from +the various attempts made during war time to handle the many thousands of +Negroes who came under Federal control, and in part to the humanitarian +impulses of 1865, born of a belief in the capacity of the Negro for freedom +and a suspicion that the Southern whites intended to keep as much of slavery +as they could. The officials of the Bureau likewise were of two classes: those +in control were for the most part army officers, standing as arbiters between +white and black, usually just and seldom the victims of their sympathies but +the mass of less responsible officials were men of inferior ability and +character, either blind partisans of the Negro or corrupt and subject to +purchase by the whites. + +In view of the fact that the Freedmen's Bureau was considered a new +institution in 1865, it is rather remarkable how closely it followed in +organization, purpose, and methods the precedents set during the war by the +officers of the army and the Treasury. In Virginia, General Butler, in 1861, +declared escaped slaves to be "contraband" and proceeded to organize them into +communities for discipline, work, food, and care. His successors in Virginia +and North Carolina, and others in the Sea Islands of Georgia and South +Carolina, extended his plan and arranged a labor system with fixed wages, +hours, and methods of work, and everywhere made use of the captured or +abandoned property of the Confederates. In Tennessee and Arkansas, Chaplain +John Eaton of Grant's army employed thousands in a modified free labor system; +and further down in Mississippi and Louisiana Generals Grant, Butler, and +Banks also put large numbers of captured slaves to work for themselves and for +the Government. Everywhere, as the numbers of Negroes increased, the army +commanders divided the occupied Negro regions into districts under +superintendents and other officials, framed labor laws, cooperated with +benevolent societies which gave schooling and medical care to the blacks, and +developed systems of government for them. + +The United States Treasury Department, attempting to execute the confiscation +laws for the benefit of the Treasury, appears now and then as an employer of +Negro labor on abandoned plantations. Either alone or in cooperation with the +army and charitable associations, it even supervised Negro colonies, and +sometimes it assumed practically complete control of the economic welfare of +the Negro. This Department introduced in 1864 an elaborate lessee and trade +system. The Negro was regarded as "the ward of the nation," but he was told +impressively that "labor is a public duty and idleness and vagrancy a crime." +All wanted him to work: the Treasury wanted cotton and other crops to sell; +the lessees and speculators wanted to make fortunes by his labor; and the army +wanted to be free from the burden of the idle blacks. In spite of all these +ministrations, the Negroes suffered much from harsh treatment, neglect, and +unsanitary conditions. + +During 1863 and 1864, several influences were urging the establishment of a +national bureau or department to take charge of matters relating to the +African race. Some wished to establish on the borders of the South a paid +labor system, which might later be extended over the entire region, to get +more slaves out of the Confederacy into this free labor territory, and to +prevent immigration of Negroes into the North, which, after the Emancipation +Proclamation, was apprehensive of this danger. Others wished to relieve the +army and the treasury officials of the burden of caring for the blacks and to +protect the latter from the "northern harpies and bloodhounds" who had +fastened upon them the lessee system. + +The discussion lasted for two years. The Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, after +a survey of the field in 1863, recommended a consolidation of all efforts +under an organization which should perpetuate the best features of the old +system. But there was much opposition to this plan in Congress. The Negroes +would be exploited, objected some; the scheme gave too much power to the +proposed organization, said others; another objection was urged against the +employment of a horde of incompetent and unscrupulous officeholders, for "the +men who go down there and become your overseers and Negro drivers will be your +broken-down politicians and your dilapidated preachers, that description of +men who are too lazy to work and just a little too honest to steal." + +As the war drew to a close, the advocates of a policy of consolidation in +Negro affairs prevailed, and on March 3, 1865, an act was approved creating in +the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. This +Bureau was to continue for one year after the close of the war, and it was to +control all matters relating to freedmen and refugees, that is, Unionists who +had been driven out of the South. Food, shelter, and clothing were to be given +to the needy, and abandoned or confiscated property was to be used for or +leased to freedmen. At the head of the Bureau was to be a commissioner with an +assistant commissioner for each of the Southern States. These officials and +other employees must take the "ironclad" oath. + +It was planned that the Bureau should have a brief existence, but the +institution and its wards became such important factors in politics that on +July 16, 1866, after a struggle with the President, Congress passed an act +over his veto amplifying the powers of the Bureau and extending it for two +years longer. This continuation of the Bureau was due to many things: to a +belief that former slaveholders were not to be trusted in dealing with the +Negroes; to the baneful effect of the "Black Laws" upon Northern public +opinion; to the struggle between the President and Congress over +reconstruction; and to the foresight of radical politicians who saw in the +institution an instrument for the political instruction of the blacks in the +proper doctrines. + +The new law was supplementary to the Act of 1865, but its additional +provisions merely endorsed what the Bureau was already doing. It authorized +the issue of medical supplies, confirmed certain sales of land to Negroes, and +provided that the promises which Sherman made in 1865 to the Sea Island +Negroes should be carried out as far as possible and that no lands occupied by +blacks should be restored to the owners until the crops of 1866 were gathered; +it directed the Bureau to cooperate with private charitable and benevolent +associations, and it authorized the use or sale for school purposes of all +confiscated property; and finally it ordered that the civil equality of the +Negro be upheld by the Bureau and its courts when state courts refused to +accept the principle. By later laws the existence of the Bureau was extended +to January 1, 1869, in the unreconstructed States, but its educational and +financial activities were continued until June 20, 1872. + +The chief objections to the Bureau from the conservative Northern point of +view were summed up in the President's veto messages. The laws creating it +were based, he asserted, on the theory that a state of war still existed; +there was too great a concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals +who could not be held responsible; with such a large number of agents ignorant +of the country and often working for their own advantage injustice would +inevitably result; in spite of the fact that the Negro everywhere had a status +in court, arbitrary tribunals were established, without jury, without regular +procedure or rules of evidence, and without appeal; the provisions in regard +to abandoned lands amounted to confiscation without a hearing; the Negro, who +must in the end work out his own salvation, and who was protected by the +demand for his labor, would be deluded into thinking his future secure without +further effort on his part; although nominally under the War Department, the +Bureau was not subject to military control; it was practically a great +political machine; and, finally, the states most concerned were not +represented in Congress. + +The Bureau was soon organized in all the former slaveholding States except +Delaware, with general headquarters in Washington and state headquarters at +the various capitals. General O. O. Howard, who was appointed commissioner, +was a good officer, softhearted, honest, pious, and frequently referred to as +"the Christian soldier." He was fair-minded and not disposed to irritate the +Southern whites unnecessarily, but he was rather suspicious of their +intentions toward the Negroes, and he was a believer in the righteousness of +the Freedmen's Bureau. He was not a good business man; and he was not beyond +the reach of politicians. At one time he was seriously disturbed in his duties +by the buzzing of the presidential bee in his bonnet. The members of his staff +were not of his moral stature, and several of them were connected with +commercial and political enterprises which left their motives open to +criticism. + +The assistant commissioners were, as a rule, general officers of the army, +though a few were colonels and chaplains.* Nearly half of them had during the +war been associated with the various attempts to handle the Negro problem, and +it was these men who shaped the organization of the Bureau. While few of them +were immediately acceptable to the Southern whites, only ten of them proved +seriously objectionable on account of personality, character, or politics. +Among the most able should be mentioned Generals Schofield, Swayne, Fullerton, +Steedman, and Fessenden, and Colonel John Eaton. The President had little or +no control over the appointment or discipline of the officials and agents of +the Bureau, except possibly by calling some of the higher army officers back +to military service. + +* They numbered eleven at first and fourteen after July 1866, and were changed +so often that fifty, in all, served in this rank before January 1, 1869, when +the Bureau was practically discontinued. + + +As a result of General Grant's severe criticism of the arrangement which +removed the Bureau from control by the military establishment, the military +commander was in a few instances also appointed assistant commissioner. Each +assistant commissioner was aided by a headquarters staff and had under his +jurisdiction in each state various district, county, and local agents, with a +special corps of school officials, who were usually teachers and missionaries +belonging to religious and charitable societies. The local agents were +recruited from the members of the Veteran Reserve Corps, the subordinate +officers and non-commissioned officers of the army, mustered-out soldiers, +officers of Negro troops, preachers, teachers, and Northern civilians who had +come South. As a class these agents were not competent persons to guide the +blacks in the ways of liberty or to arbitrate differences between the races. +There were many exceptions, but the Southern view as expressed by General Wade +Hampton had only too much foundation: "There MAY be," he said, "an honest man +connected with the Bureau." John Minor Botts, a Virginian who had remained +loyal to the Union, asserted that many of the agents were good men who did +good work but that trouble resulted from the ignorance and fanaticism of +others. The minority members of the Ku Klux Committee condemned the agents as +being "generally of a class of fanatics without character or responsibility." + +The chief activities of the Bureau included the following five branches: +relief work for both races; the regulation of Negro labor; the administration +of justice in cases concerning Negroes; the management of abandoned and +confiscated property; and the support of schools for the Negroes. + +The relief work which was carried on for more than four years consisted of +caring for sick Negroes who were within reach of the hospitals, furnishing +food and sometimes clothing and shelter to destitute blacks and whites, and +transporting refugees of both races back to their homes. Nearly a hundred +hospitals and clinics were established, and half a million patients were +treated. This work was greatly needed, especially for the old and the infirm, +and it was well done. The transportation of refugees did not reach large +proportions, and after 1866 it was entangled in politics. But the issue of +supplies in huge quantities brought much needed relief though at the same time +a certain amount of demoralization. The Bureau claimed little credit, and is +usually given none, for keeping alive during the fall and winter of 1865-1866 +thousands of destitute whites. Yet more than a third of the food issued was to +whites, and without it many would have starved. Numerous Confederate soldiers +on the way home after the surrender were fed by the Bureau, and in the +destitute white districts a great deal of suffering was relieved and prevented +by its operations. The Negroes, dwelling for the most part in regions where +labor was in demand, needed relief for a shorter time, but they were attracted +in numbers to the towns by free food, and it was difficult to get them back to +work. The political value of the free food issues was not generally recognized +until later in 1866 and in 1867. + +During the first year of the Bureau an important duty of the agents was the +supervision of Negro labor and the fixing of wages. Both officials and +planters generally demanded that contracts be written, approved, and filed in +the office of the Bureau. They thought that the Negroes would work better if +they were thus bound by contracts. The agents usually required that the +agreements between employer and laborer cover such points as the nature of the +work, the hours, food and clothes, medical attendance, shelter, and wages. To +make wages secure, the laborer was given a lien on the crop; to secure the +planter from loss, unpaid wages might be forfeited if the laborer failed to +keep his part of the contract. When it dawned upon the Bureau authorities that +other systems of labor had been or might be developed in the South, they +permitted arrangements for the various forms of cash and share renting. But it +was everywhere forbidden to place the Negroes under "overseers" or to subject +them to "unwilling apprenticeship" and "compulsory working out of debts." The +written contract system for laborers did not work out successfully. The +Negroes at first were expecting quite other fruits of freedom. One Mississippi +Negro voiced what was doubtless the opinion of many when he declared that he +"considered no man free who had to work for a living." Few Negroes would +contract for more than three months and none for a period beyond January 1, +1866, when they expected a division of lands among the ex-slaves. In spite of +the regulations, most worked on oral agreements. In 1866 nearly all employers +threw overboard the written contract system for labor and permitted oral +agreements. Some states had passed stringent laws for the enforcing of +contracts, but in Alabama, Governor Patton vetoed such legislation on the +ground that it was not needed. General Swayne, the Bureau chief for the state, +endorsed the Governor's action and stated that the Negro was protected by his +freedom to leave when mistreated, and the planter, by the need on the part of +the Negro for food and shelter. Negroes, he said, were afraid of contracts +and, besides, contracts led to litigation. + +In order to safeguard the civil rights of the Negroes, the Bureau was given +authority to establish courts of its own and to supervise the action of state +courts in cases to which freedmen were parties. The majority of the assistant +commissioners made no attempt to let the state courts handle Negro cases but +were accustomed to bring all such cases before the Bureau or the provost +courts of the army. In Alabama, quite early, and later in North Carolina, +Mississippi, and Georgia, the wiser assistant commissioners arranged for the +state courts to handle freedmen's cases with the understanding that +discriminating laws were to be suspended. General Swayne in so doing declared +that he was "unwilling to establish throughout Alabama courts conducted by +persons foreign to her citizenship and strangers to her laws." The Bureau +courts were informal affairs, consisting usually of one or two administrative +officers. There were no jury, no appeal beyond the assistant commissioner, no +rules of procedure, and no accepted body of law. In state courts accepted by +the Bureau, the proceedings in Negro cases were conducted in the same manner +as for the whites. + +The educational work of the Bureau was at first confined to cooperation with +such Northern religious and benevolent societies as were organizing schools +and churches for the Negroes. After the first year, the Bureau extended +financial aid and undertook a system of supervision over Negro schools. The +teachers employed were Northern whites and Negroes in about equal numbers. +Confiscated Confederate property was devoted to Negro education, and in +several states the assistant commissioners collected fees and percentages of +the Negroes' wages for the benefit of the schools. In addition the Bureau +expended about six million dollars. + +The intense dislike which the Southern whites manifested for the Freedmen's +Bureau was due in general to their resentment of outside control of domestic +affairs and in particular to unavoidable difficulties inherent in the +situation. Among the concrete causes of Southern hostility was the attitude of +some of the higher officials and many of the lower ones toward the white +people. They assumed that the whites were unwilling to accord fair treatment +to the blacks in the matter of wages, schools, and justice. An official in +Louisiana declared that the whites would exterminate the Negroes if the Bureau +were removed. A few months later General Fullerton in the same State reported +that trouble was caused by those agents who noisily demanded special +privileges for the Negro but who objected to any penalties for his lawlessness +and made of the Negroes a pampered class. General Tillson in Georgia predicted +the extinction of the "old time Southerner with his hate, cruelty, and +malice." General Fisk declared that "there are some of the meanest, +unsubjugated and unreconstructed rascally revolutionists in Kentucky that +curse the soil of the country . . . a more select number of vindictive, +pro-slavery, rebellious legislators cannot be found than a majority of the +Kentucky legislature." There was a disposition to lecture the whites about +their sins in regard to slavery and to point out to them how far in their +general ignorance and backwardness they fell short of enlightened people. + +The Bureau courts were frequently conducted in an "illegal and oppressive +manner," with "decided partiality for the colored people, without regard to +justice." For this reason they were suspended for a time in Louisiana and +Georgia by General Steedman and General Fullerton, and cases were then sent +before military courts. Men of the highest character were dragged before the +Bureau tribunals upon frivolous complaints, were lectured, abused, ridiculed, +and arbitrarily fined or otherwise punished. The jurisdiction of the Bureau +courts weakened the civil courts and their frequent interference in trivial +matters was not conducive to a return to normal conditions. + +The inferior agents, not sufficiently under the control of their superiors, +were responsible for a great deal of this bad feeling. Many of them held +radical opinions as to the relations of the races, and inculcated these views +in their courts, in the schools, and in the new Negro churches. Some were +charged with even causing strikes and other difficulties in order to be bought +off by the whites. The tendency of their work was to create in the Negroes a +pervasive distrust of the whites. + +The prevalent delusion in regard to an impending division of the lands among +the blacks had its origin in the operation of the war-time confiscation laws, +in some of the Bureau legislation, and in General Sherman's Sea Island order, +but it was further fostered by the agents until most blacks firmly believed +that each head of a family was to get "40 acres and a mule." This belief +seriously interfered with industry and resulted also in widespread swindling +by rascals who for years made a practice of selling fraudulent deeds to land +with red, white, and blue sticks to mark off the bounds of a chosen spot on +the former master's plantation. The assistant commissioners labored hard to +disabuse the minds of the Negroes, but their efforts were often neutralized by +the unscrupulous attitude of the agents. + +As the contest over reconstruction developed in Washington, the officials of +the Bureau soon recognized the political possibilities of their institution. +After midyear of 1866, the Bureau became a political machine for the purpose +of organizing the blacks into the Union League, where the rank and file were +taught that reenslavement would follow Democratic victories. Nearly all of the +Bureau agents aided in the administration of the reconstruction acts in 1867 +and in the organization of the new state and local governments and became +officials under the new regime. They were the chief agents in capturing the +solid Negro vote for the Republican party. + +Neither of the two plans for guiding the freedmen into a place in the social +order--the "Black Laws" and the Freedmen's Bureau--was successful. The former +contained a program which was better suited to actual conditions and which +might have succeeded if it had been given a fair trial. These laws were a +measure of the extent to which the average white would then go in "accepting +the situation" so far as the blacks were concerned. And on the whole the +recognition of Negro rights made in these laws, and made at a time when the +whites believed that they were free to handle the situation, was remarkably +fair. The Negroes lately released from slavery were admitted to the enjoyment +of the same rights as the whites as to legal protection of life, liberty, and +property, as to education and as to the family relation, limited only by the +clear recognition of the principles of political inferiority and social +separation. Unhappily this legislation was not put to the test of practical +experience because of the Freedmen's Bureau; it was nevertheless skillfully +used to arouse the dominant Northern party to a course of action which made +impossible any further effort to treat the race problem with due consideration +to actual local conditions. + +Much of the work of the Freedmen's Bureau was of only temporary benefit to +both races. The results of its more permanent work were not generally good. +The institution was based upon the assumption that the Negro race must be +protected from the white race. In its organization and administration it was +an impossible combination of the practical and the theoretical, of opportunism +and humanitarianism, of common sense and idealism. It failed to exert a +permanently wholesome influence because its lesser agents were not held to +strict accountability by their superiors. Under these agents the alienation of +the two races began, and the ill feelings then aroused were destined to +persist into a long and troubled future. + + + +CHAPTER V. THE VICTORY OF THE RADICALS + +The soldiers who fought through the war to victory or to defeat had been at +home nearly two years before the radicals developed sufficient strength to +carry through their plans for a revolutionary reconstruction of the Southern +states. At the end of the war, a majority of the Northern people would have +supported a settlement in accordance with Lincoln's policy. Eight months later +a majority, but a smaller one, would have supported Johnson's work had it been +possible to secure a popular decision on it. How then did the radicals gain +the victory over the conservatives? The answer to this question is given by +James Ford Rhodes in terms of personalities: "Three men are responsible for +the Congressional policy of Reconstruction: Andrew Johnson, by his obstinacy +and bad behavior; Thaddeus Stevens, by his vindictiveness and parliamentary +tyranny; Charles Sumner, by his pertinacity in a misguided humanitarianism." +The President stood alone in his responsibility, but his chief opponents were +the ablest leaders of a resolute band of radicals. + +Radicalism did not begin in the Administration of Andrew Johnson. Lincoln had +felt its covert opposition throughout the war, but he possessed the faculty of +weakening his opponents, while Johnson's conduct usually multiplied the number +and the strength of his enemies. At first the radicals criticized Lincoln's +policy in regard to slavery, and after the Emancipation Proclamation they +shifted their attack to his "ten percent" plan for organizing the state +governments as outlined in the Proclamation of December 1863. Lincoln's course +was distasteful to them because he did not admit the right of Congress to +dictate terms, because of his liberal attitude towards former Confederates, +and because he was conservative on the Negro question. A schism among the +Republican supporters of the war was with difficulty averted in 1864, when +Fremont threatened to lead the radicals in opposition to the "Union" party of +the President and his conservative policy. + +The breach was widened by the refusal of Congress to admit representatives +from Arkansas and Louisiana in 1864 and to count the electoral vote of +Louisiana and Tennessee in 1865. The passage of the Wade-Davis reconstruction +bill in July 1864, and the protests of its authors after Lincoln's pocket veto +called attention to the growing opposition. Severe criticism caused Lincoln to +withdraw the propositions which he had made in April 1865, with regard to the +restoration of Virginia. In his last public speech, he referred with regret to +the growing spirit of vindictiveness toward the South. Much of the opposition +to Lincoln's Southern policy was based not on radicalism, that is, not on any +desire for a revolutionary change in the South, but upon a belief that +Congress and not the executive should be entrusted with the work of +reorganizing the Union. Many congressional leaders were willing to have +Congress itself carry through the very policies which Lincoln had advocated, +and a majority of the Northern people would have endorsed them without much +caring who was to execute them. + +The murder of Lincoln, the failure of the radicals to shape Johnson's policy +as they had hoped, and the continuing reaction against the excessive expansion +of the executive power added strength to the opposition. But it was a long +fight before the radical leaders won. Their victory was due to adroit tactics +on their own part and to mistakes, bad judgment, and bad manners on the part +of the President. When all hope of controlling Johnson had been given up, +Thaddeus Stevens and other leaders of similar views began to contrive means to +circumvent him. On December 1, 1865, before Congress met, a caucus of radicals +held in Washington agreed that a joint committee of the two Houses should be +selected to which should be referred matters relating to reconstruction. This +plan would thwart the more conservative Senate and gain a desirable delay in +which the radicals might develop their campaign. The next day at a caucus of +the Union party the plan went through without arousing the suspicion of the +supporters of the Administration. Next, through the influence of Stevens, +Edward McPherson, the clerk of the House, omitted from the roll call of the +House the names of the members from the South. The radical program was then +adopted and a week later the Senate concurred in the action of the House as to +the appointment of a Joint Committee on Reconstruction. + +On the issues before Congress both Houses were split into rather clearly +defined factions: the extreme radicals with such leaders as Stevens, Sumner, +Wade, and Boutwell; the moderate Republicans, chief among whom were Fessenden +and Trumbull; the administration Republicans led by Raymond, Doolittle, Cowan, +and Dixon; and the Democrats, of whom the ablest were Reverdy Johnson, +Guthrie, and Hendricks. All except the extreme radicals were willing to +support the President or to come to some fairly reasonable compromise. But at +no time were they given an opportunity to get together. Johnson and the +administration leaders did little in this direction and the radicals made the +most skillful use of the divisions among the conservatives. + +Whatever final judgment may be passed upon the radical reconstruction policy +and its results, there can be no doubt of the political dexterity of those who +carried it through. Chief among them was Thaddeus Stevens, vindictive and +unscrupulous, filled with hatred of the Southern leaders, bitter in speech and +possessing to an extreme degree the faculty of making ridiculous those who +opposed him. He advocated confiscation, the proscription or exile of leading +whites, the granting of the franchise and of lands to the Negroes, and in +Southern states the establishment of territorial governments under the control +of Congress. These states should, he said, "never be recognized as capable of +acting in the Union . . . until the Constitution shall have been so amended as +to make it what the makers intended, and so as to secure perpetual ascendancy +to the party of the Union." + +Charles Sumner, the leader of the radicals in the Senate, was moved less than +Stevens by personal hostility toward the whites of the South, but his sympathy +was reserved entirely for the blacks. He was unpractical, theoretical, and not +troubled by constitutional scruples. To him the Declaration of Independence +was the supreme law, and it was the duty of Congress to express its principles +in appropriate legislation. Unlike Stevens, who had a genuine liking for the +Negro, Sumner's sympathy for the race was purely intellectual; for the +individual Negro he felt repulsion. His views were in effect not different +from those of Stevens. And he was practical enough not to overlook the value +of the Negro vote. "To my mind," he said, "nothing is clearer than the +absolute necessity of suffrage for all colored persons in the disorganized +states. It will not be enough if you give it to those who read and write; you +will not, in this way, acquire the voting force which you need there for the +protection of unionists, whether white or black. You will not secure the new +allies who are essential to the national cause." A leader of the second rank +was his colleague Henry Wilson, who was also actuated by a desire for the +Negro's welfare and for the perpetuation of the Republican party, which he +said contained in its ranks "more of moral and intellectual worth than was +ever embodied in any political organization in any land . . . created by no +man or set of men but brought into being by Almighty God himself . . . and +endowed by the Creator with all political power and every office under +Heaven." Shellabarger of Ohio was another important figure among the radicals. +The following extract from one of his speeches gives an indication of his +character and temperament: "They [the Confederates] framed iniquity and +universal murder into law . . . . Their pirates burned your unarmed commerce +upon every sea. They carved the bones of the dead heroes into ornaments, and +drank from goblets made out of their skulls. They poisoned your fountains, put +mines under your soldiers' prisons; organized bands whose leaders were +concealed in your homes; and commissions ordered the torch and yellow fever to +be carried to your cities and to your women and children. They planned one +universal bonfire of the North from Lake Ontario to the Missouri." + +Among the lesser lights may be mentioned Morton and Wade, both bluff, coarse, +and ungenerous, and thoroughly convinced that the Republican party had a +monopoly of loyalty, wisdom, and virtues, and that by any means it must gain +and keep control; Boutwell, fanatical and mediocre; and Benjamin Butler, a +charlatan and demagogue. As a class the Western radicals were less troubled by +humanitarian ideals than were those of the East and sought more practical +political results. + +The Joint Committee on Reconstruction which finally decided the fate of the +Southern states was composed of eight radicals, four moderate Republicans, and +three Democrats. As James Gillespie Blaine wrote later, "it was foreseen that +in an especial degree the fortunes of the Republican party would be in the +keeping of the fifteen men who might be chosen." This committee was divided +into four subcommittees to take testimony. The witnesses, all of whom were +examined at Washington, included army officers and Bureau agents who had +served in the South, Southern Unionists, a few politicians, and several former +Confederates, among them General Robert E. Lee and Alexander H. Stephens. Most +of the testimony was of the kind needed to support the contentions of the +radicals that Negroes were badly treated in the South; that the whites were +disloyal; that, should they be left in control, the Negro, free labor, the +nation, and the Republican party would be in danger; that the army and the +Freedmen's Bureau must be kept in the South; and that a radical reconstruction +was necessary. No serious effort, however, was made to ascertain the actual +conditions in the South. Slow to formulate a definite plan, the Joint +Committee guided public sentiment toward radicalism, converted gradually the +Republican Congressmen, and little by little undermined the power and +influence of the President. + +Not until after the new year was it plain that there was to be a fight to the +finish between Congress and the President. Congress had refused in December +1865, to accept the President's program, but there was still hope for a +compromise. Many conservatives had voted for the delay merely to assert the +rights of Congress; but the radicals wanted time to frame a program. The +Northern Democrats were embarrassingly cordial in their support of Johnson and +so also were most Southerners. The moderates were not far away from the +position of the President and the administration Republicans. But the radicals +skillfully postponed a test of strength until Stevens and Sumner were ready. +The latter declared that a generation must elapse "before the rebel +communities have so far been changed as to become safe associates in a common +government. Time, therefore, we must have. Through time all other guarantees +may be obtained; but time itself is a guarantee." + +To the Joint Committee were referred without debate all measures relating to +reconstruction, but the Committee was purposely making little +progress--contented merely to take testimony and to act as a clearing house +for the radical "facts" about "Southern outrages" while waiting for the tide +to turn. The "Black Laws" and the election of popular Confederate leaders to +office in the South were effectively used to alarm the friends of the Negroes, +and the reports from the Bureau agents gave support to those who condemned the +Southern state governments as totally inadequate and disloyal. + +So apparent was the growth of radicalism that the President, alarmed by the +attitude of Sumner and Stevens and their followers, began to fear for the +Constitution and forced the fight. The passage of a bill on February 6, 1866, +extending the life of the Freedmen's Bureau furnished the occasion for the +beginning of the open struggle. On the 19th of February, Johnson vetoed the +bill, and the next day an effort was made to pass it over the veto. Not +succeeding in this attempt, the House of Representatives adopted a concurrent +resolution that Senators and Representatives from the Southern states should +be excluded until Congress declared them entitled to representation. Ten days +later the Senate also adopted the resolution. + +Though it was not yet too late for Johnson to meet the conservatives of +Congress on middle ground, he threw away his opportunity by an intemperate and +undignified speech on the 22d of February to a crowd at the White House. As +usual when excited, he forgot the proprieties and denounced the radicals as +enemies of the Union and even went so far as to charge Stevens, Sumner, and +Wendell Phillips with endeavoring to destroy the fundamental principles of the +government. Such conduct weakened his supporters and rejoiced his enemies. It +was expected that Johnson would approve the bill to confer civil rights upon +the Negroes, but, goaded perhaps by the speeches of Stevens, he vetoed it on +the 27th of March. Its patience now exhausted, Congress passed the bill over +the President's veto. To secure the requisite majority in the Senate, +Stockton, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, was unseated on technical +grounds, and Senator Morgan, who was "paired" with a sick colleague, broke his +word to vote aye--for which Wade offensively thanked God. The moderates had +now fallen away from the President, and at least for this session of Congress, +his policies were wrecked. On the 16th of July, the supplementary Freedmen's +Bureau Act was passed over the veto, and on the 24th of July Tennessee was +readmitted to representation by a law the preamble of which asserted +unmistakably that Congress had assumed control of reconstruction. + +Meanwhile the Joint Committee on Reconstruction had made a report asserting +that the Southerners had forfeited all constitutional rights, that their state +governments were not in constitutional form, and that restoration could be +accomplished only when Congress and the President acted together in fixing the +terms of readmission. The uncompromising hostility of the South, the Committee +asserted, made necessary adequate safeguards which should include the +disfranchisement of the white leaders, either Negro suffrage or a reduction of +white representation, and repudiation of the Confederate war debt with +recognition of the validity of the United States debt. These terms were +embodied in the Fourteenth Amendment, which was adopted by Congress and sent +to the States on June 13, 1866. + +In the congressional campaign of 1866, reconstruction was almost the sole +issue. For success the Administration must gain at least one-third of one +house, while the radicals were fighting for two-thirds of each House. If the +Administration should fail to make the necessary gain, the work accomplished +by the Presidents would be destroyed. The campaign was bitter and extended +through the summer and fall. Four national conventions were held: the National +Union party at Philadelphia made a respectable showing in support of the +President; the Southern Unionists, guided by the Northern radicals met at the +same place; a soldiers' and sailors' convention at Cleveland supported the +Administration; and another convention of soldiers and sailors at Pittsburgh +endorsed the radical policies. A convention of Confederate soldiers and +sailors at Memphis endorsed the President, but the Southern support and that +of the Northern Democrats did not encourage moderate Republicans to vote for +the Administration. Three members of Johnson's Cabinet--Harlan, Speed, and +Dennison--resigned because they were unwilling to follow their chief further +in opposing Congress. + +The radicals had plenty of campaign material in the testimony collected by the +Joint Committee, in the reports of the Freedmen's Bureau, and in the bloody +race riots which had occurred in Memphis and New Orleans. The greatest blunder +of the Administration was Johnson's speechmaking tour to the West which he +called "Swinging Around the Circle." Every time he made a speech he was +heckled by persons in the crowd, lost his temper, denounced Congress and the +radical leaders, and conducted himself in an undignified manner. The election +returns showed more than a two-thirds majority in each House against the +President. The Fortieth Congress would therefore be safely radical, and in +consequence the Thirty-ninth was encouraged to be more radical during its last +session. + +Public interest now for a time turned to the South, where the Fourteenth +Amendment was before the state legislatures. The radicals, taunted with having +no plan of reconstruction beyond a desire to keep the Southern States out of +the Union, professed to see in the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment a +good opportunity to readmit the States on a safe basis. The elections of 1866 +had pointed to the ratification of the proposed amendment as an essential +preliminary to readmission. But would additional demands be made upon the +South? Sumner, Stevens, and Fessenden were sure that Negro suffrage also must +come, but Wade, Chase, Garfield, and others believed that nothing beyond the +terms of the Fourteenth Amendment would be asked. + +In the Southern legislatures there was little disposition to ratify the +amendment. The rapid development of the radical policies during 1866 had +convinced most Southerners that nothing short of a general humiliation and +complete revolution in the South would satisfy the dominant party, and there +were few who wished to be "parties to our own dishonor." The President advised +the States not to accept the amendment, but several Southern leaders favored +it, fearing that worse would come if they should reject it. Only in the +legislatures of Alabama and Florida was there any serious disposition to +accept the amendment; and in the end all the unreconstructed States voted +adversely during the fall and winter of 1866-67. This unanimity of action was +due in part to the belief that, even if the amendment were ratified, the +Southern states would still be excluded, and in part to the general dislike of +the proscriptive section which would disfranchise all Confederates of +prominence and result in the breaking up of the state governments. The example +of unhappy Tennessee, which had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and had been +readmitted, was not one to encourage conservative people in the other Southern +states. + +The rejection of the amendment put the question of reconstruction squarely +before Congress. There was no longer a possibility of accomplishing the +reconstruction of the Southern states by means of constitutional amendments. +Some of the Border and Northern states were already showing signs of +uneasiness at the continued exclusion of the South. But if the Constitutional +Amendment had failed, other means of reconstruction were at hand, for the +radicals now controlled the Thirty-ninth Congress, from which the Southern +representatives were excluded, and would also control the Fortieth Congress. + +Under the lead of Stevens and Sumner, the radicals now perfected their plans. +On January 8,1867, their first measure, conferring the franchise upon Negroes +in the District of Columbia, was passed over the presidential veto, though the +proposal had been voted down a few weeks earlier by a vote of 6525 to 35 in +Washington and 812 to 1 in Georgetown. In the next place, by an act of January +31, 1867, the franchise was extended to Negroes in the territories, and on +March 2, 1867, three important measures were enacted: the Tenure of Office Act +and a rider to the Army Appropriation Act--both designed to limit the power of +the President--and the first Reconstruction Act. By the Tenure of Office Act, +the President was prohibited from removing officeholders except with the +consent of the Senate; and by the Army Act he was forbidden to issue orders +except through General Grant or to relieve him of command or to assign him to +command away from Washington unless at the General's own request or with the +previous approval of the Senate. The first measure was meant to check the +removal of radical officeholders by Johnson, and the other, which was secretly +drawn up for Boutwell by Stanton, was designed to prevent the President from +exercising his constitutional command of the army. + +The first Reconstruction Act declared that no legal state government existed +in the ten unreconstructed states and that there was no adequate protection +for life and property. The Johnson and Lincoln governments in those States +were declared to have no legal status and to be subject wholly to the +authority of the United States to modify or abolish. The ten states were +divided into five military districts, over each of which a general officer was +to be placed in command. Military tribunals were to supersede the civil courts +where necessary. Stevens was willing to rest here, though some of his less +radical followers, disliking military rule but desiring to force Negro +suffrage, inserted a provision in the law that a State might be readmitted to +representation upon the following conditions: a constitutional convention must +be held, the members of which were elected by males of voting age without +regard to color, excluding whites who would be disfranchised by the proposed +Fourteenth Amendment; a constitution including the same rule of suffrage must +be framed, ratified by the same electorate, and approved by Congress; and +lastly, the legislatures elected under this constitution must ratify the +proposed Fourteenth Amendment, after which, if the Fourteenth Amendment should +have become a part of the Federal Constitution, the State should be readmitted +to representation. + +In order that the administration of this radical legislation might be +supervised by its friends, the Thirty-ninth Congress had passed a law +requiring the Fortieth Congress to meet on the 4th of March instead of in +December as was customary. According to the Reconstruction Act of the 2nd of +March, it was left to the state government or to the people of a state to make +the first move towards reconstruction. If they preferred, they might remain +under military rule. Either by design or by carelessness no machinery of +administration was provided for the execution of the act. When it became +evident that the Southerners preferred military rule, the new Congress passed +a Supplementary Reconstruction Act on the 23d of March designed to force the +earlier act into operation. The five commanding generals were directed to +register the blacks of voting age and the whites who were not disfranchised, +to hold elections for conventions, to call the conventions, to hold elections +to ratify or reject the constitutions, and to forward the constitutions, if +ratified, to the President for transmission to Congress. + +In these reconstruction acts the whole doctrine of radicalism was put on the +way to accomplishment. Its spread had been rapid. In December 1865, the +majority of Congress would have accepted with little modification the work of +Lincoln and Johnson. Three months later the Civil Rights Act measured the +advance. Very soon the new Freedmen's Bureau Act and the Fourteenth Amendment +indicated the rising tide of radicalism. The campaign of 1866 and the attitude +of the Southern states swept all radicals and most moderate Republicans +swiftly into a merciless course of reconstruction. Moderate reconstruction had +nowhere strong support. Congress, touched in its amour propre by presidential +disregard, was eager for extremes. Johnson, who regarded himself as defending +the Constitution against radical assaults, was stubborn, irascible, and +undignified, and with his associates was no match in political strategy for +his radical opponents. + +The average Republican or Unionist in the North, if he had not been brought by +skillful misrepresentation to believe a new rebellion impending in the South, +was at any rate painfully alive to the fear that the Democratic party might +regain power. With the freeing of the slaves, the representation of the South +in Congress would be increased. At first it seemed that the South might divide +in politics as before the war, but the longer the delay the more the Southern +whites tended to unite into one party acting with the Democrats. With their +eighty-five representatives and a slight reaction in the North, they might +gain control of the lower House of Congress. The Union-Republican party had a +majority of less than one hundred in 1866, and this was lessened slightly in +the Fortieth Congress. The President was for all practical purposes a Democrat +again. The prospect was too much for the very human politicians to view +without distress. Stevens, speaking in support of the Military Reconstruction +Bill, said: + +"There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the first +place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to Negro suffrage in the +rebel states. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and +make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is necessary in order to +protect the loyal white men in the seceded states. With them the blacks would +act in a body, and it is believed that in each of these states, except one, +the two united would form a majority, control the states, and protect +themselves. Now they are the victims of daily murder. They must suffer +constant persecution or be exiled. Another good reason is that it would insure +the ascendancy of the union party .... I believe . . . that on the continued +ascendancy of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial +suffrage is excluded in the rebel states, then every one of them is sure to +send a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred Copperheads of the +North, would always elect the President and control Congress." + +The laws passed on the 2d and the 23d of March were war measures and +presupposed a continuance of war conditions. The Lincoln-Johnson state +governments were overturned; Congress fixed the qualifications of voters for +that time and for the future; and the President, shorn of much of his +constitutional power, could exercise but little control over the military +government. Nothing that a state might do would secure restoration until it +should ratify the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. The war +had been fought upon the theory that the old Union must be preserved; but the +basic theory of the reconstruction was that a new Union was to be created. + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE RULE OF THE MAJOR GENERALS + +From the passage of the reconstruction acts to the close of Johnson's +Administration, Congress, working the will of the radical majority, was in +supreme control. The army carried out the will of Congress and to that body, +not to the President, the commanding general and his subordinates looked for +direction. + +The official opposition of the President to the policy of Congress ceased when +that policy was enacted into law. He believed this legislation to be +unconstitutional, but he considered it his duty to execute the laws. He at +once set about the appointment of generals to command the military districts +created in the South,* a task calling for no little discretion, since much +depended upon the character of these military governors, or "satraps," as they +were frequently called by the opposition. The commanding general in a district +was charged with many duties, military, political, and administrative. It was +his duty to carry on a government satisfactory to the radicals and not too +irritating to the Southern whites; at the same time he must execute the +reconstruction acts by putting old leaders out of power and Negroes in. +Violent opposition to this policy on the part of the South was not looked for. +Notwithstanding the "Southern outrage" campaign, it was generally recognized +in government circles that conditions in the seceded states had gradually been +growing better since the close of the war. There was in many regions, to be +sure, a general laxity in enforcing laws, but that had always been +characteristic of the newer parts of the South. The Civil Rights Act was +generally in force, the "Black Laws" had been suspended, and the Freedmen's +Bureau was everywhere caring for the Negroes. What disorder existed was of +recent origin and in the main was due to the unsettling effects of the debates +in Congress and to the organization of the Negroes for political purposes. + +* The first five generals appointed were Schofield, Sickles. Pope, Ord, and +Sheridan. None of these remained in his district until reconstruction was +completed. To Schofield's command in the first district succeeded in turn +Stoneman, Webb, and Canby; Sickles gave way to Canby, and Pope to Meade; Ord +in the fourth district was followed by Gillem, McDowell, and Ames; Sheridan, +in the fifth, was succeeded by Griffen, Mower, Hancock, Buchanan, Reynolds, +and Canby. Some of the generals were radical; others, moderate and tactful. +The most extreme were Sheridan, Pope, and Sickles. Those most acceptable to +the whites were Hancock, Schofield, and Meade. General Grant himself became +more radical in his actions as he became involved in the fight between +Congress and the President. + + +Military rule was established in the South with slight friction, but it was +soon found that the reconstruction laws were not sufficiently clear on two +points: first, whether there was any limit to the authority of the five +generals over the local and state governments and, if so, whether the limiting +authority was in the President; and second, whether the disfranchising +provisions in the laws were punitive and hence to be construed strictly. +Attorney-General Stanbery, in May and June 1867, drew up opinions in which he +maintained that the laws were to be considered punitive and therefore to be +construed strictly. After discussions in cabinet meetings, these opinions +received the approval of all except Stanton, Secretary of War, who had already +joined the radical camp. The Attorney-General's opinion was sent out to the +district commanders for their information and guidance. But Congress did not +intend to permit the President or his Cabinet to direct the process of +reconstruction, and in the Act of July 19, 1867, it gave a radical +interpretation to the reconstruction legislation, declared itself in control, +gave full power to General Grant and to the district commanders subject only +to Grant, directed the removal of all local officials who opposed the +reconstruction policies, and warned the civil and military officers of the +United States that none of them should "be bound in his action by any opinion +of any civil officer of the United States." This interpretive legislation gave +a broad basis for the military government and resulted in a severe application +of the disfranchising provisions of the laws. + +The rule of the five generals lasted in all the States until June 1868, and +continued in Mississippi, Texas, Virginia, and Georgia until 1870. There had +been, to be sure, some military government in 1865, subject, however, to the +President, and from 1865 to 1867 the army, along with the Freedmen's Bureau, +had exerted a strong influence in the government of the South, but in the +regime now inaugurated the military was supreme. The generals had a superior +at Washington, but whether it was the President, General Grant, or Congress +was not clear until the Act of July 19, 1867 made Congress the source of +authority. + +The power of the generals most strikingly appeared in their control of the +state governments which were continued as provisional organizations. Since no +elections were permitted, all appointments and removals were made from +military headquarters, which soon became political beehives, centers of +wirepulling and agencies for the distribution of spoils. At the outset civil +officers were ordered to retain their offices during good behavior, subject to +military control. But no local official was permitted to use his influence +ever so slightly against reconstruction. Since most of them did not favor the +policy of Congress, thousands were removed as "obstacles to reconstruction." +The Governors of Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas were +displaced and others appointed in their stead. All kinds of subordinate +offices rapidly became vacant. New appointments were nearly always +carpetbaggers and native radicals who could take the "ironclad" oath. The +generals complained that there were not enough competent native "loyalists" to +fill the offices, and frequently an army officer was installed as governor, +treasurer, secretary of state, auditor, or mayor. In nearly all towns, the +police force was reorganized, and former Federal soldiers were added to the +force, while the regular troops were used for general police purposes and for +rural constabulary. + +Over the administration of justice the military authorities exercised a close +supervision. Instructions were sent out to court officers covering the +selection of juries, the suspension of certain laws, and the rules of evidence +and procedure. Courts were often closed, court decrees set aside or modified, +prisoners released, and many cases reserved for trial by military commission. +Some commanders required juries to admit Negro members and insisted that all +jurors take the "ironclad" test oath. There was some attempt at regulating the +Federal courts but without much success. + +Since the state legislatures were forbidden to meet, much legislation was +enacted through military orders. Stay laws were enacted, the color line was +abolished, new criminal regulations were promulgated, and the police power was +invoked in some instances to justify sweeping measures, such as the +prohibition of whisky manufacture in North Carolina and South Carolina. The +military governors levied, increased, or decreased taxes and made +appropriations which the state treasurers were forced to pay, but they +restrained the radical conventions, all of which wished to spend much money. +According to the Act of March 23, 1867, the generals and their appointees were +to be paid by the United States, but in practice the running expenses of +reconstruction were paid by the state treasurers. + +Any attempt to favor the Confederate soldiers was frowned upon. Laws providing +wooden legs and free education for crippled Confederates were suspended. +Militia organizations and military schools were forbidden. No uniform might be +worn, no parades were permitted, no memorial and historical societies were to +be organized, and no meeting of any kind could be held without a permit. The +attempt to control the press resulted in what one general called "a horrible +uproar." Editors were forbidden to express themselves too strongly against +reconstruction; public advertising and printing were awarded only to those +papers actively supporting reconstruction. Several newspapers were suppressed, +a notable example being the "Tuscaloosa Independent Monitor", whose editor, +Ryland Randolph, was a picturesque figure in Alabama journalism and a leader +in the Ku Klux Klan. + +The military administration was thorough and, as a whole, honest and +efficient. With fewer than ten thousand soldiers, the generals maintained +order and carried on the reconstruction of the South. The whites made no +attempt at resistance, though they were irritated by military rule and +resented the loss of self-government. But most Southerners preferred the rule +of the army to the alternative reign of the carpetbagger, scalawag, and Negro. +The extreme radicals at the North, on the other hand, were disgusted at the +conservative policy of the generals. The apathy of the whites at the beginning +of the military reconstruction excited surprise on all sides. Not only was +there no violent opposition, but for a few weeks there was no opposition at +all. The civil officials were openly unsympathetic, and the newspapers voiced +dissent not untouched with disgust; others simply could not take the situation +seriously because it seemed so absurd; many leaders were indifferent, while +others among them, Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Longstreet, and Governor +Patton--without approving the policy, advised the whites to cooperate with the +military authorities and save all they could out of the situation. General +Beauregard, for instance, wrote in 1867: "If the suffrage of the Negro is +properly handled and directed, we shall defeat our adversaries with their own +weapons. The Negro is Southern born. With education and property +qualifications he can be made to take an interest in the affairs of the South +and in its prosperity. He will side with the whites." + +Northern observers who were friendly to the South or who disapproved of this +radical reconstruction saw the danger more clearly than the Southerners +themselves, who seemed not to appreciate the full implication of the +situation. In this connection the New York "Herald" remarked: + +"We may regard the entire ten unreconstructed Southern States, with possibly +one or two exceptions, as forced by a secret and overwhelming revolutionary +influence to a common and inevitable fate. They are all bound to be governed +by blacks spurred on by worse than blacks - white wretches who dare not show +their faces in respectable society anywhere. This is the most abominable phase +barbarism has assumed since the dawn of civilization. It was all right and +proper to put down the rebellion. It was all right perhaps to emancipate the +slaves . . . . But it is not right to make slaves of white men even though +they may have been former masters of blacks. This is but a change in a system +of bondage that is rendered the more odious and intolerable because it has +been inaugurated in an enlightened instead of a dark and uncivilized age." + +The political parties rapidly grouped themselves for the coming struggle. The +radical Republican party indeed was in process of organization in the South +even before the passage of the reconstruction acts. Its membership was made up +of Negroes, carpetbaggers, or Northern men who had come in as speculators, +officers of the Freedmen's Bureau and of the army, scalawags or Confederate +renegades, "Peace Society" men,* and Unionists of Civil War times, with a few +old Whigs who could not yet bring themselves to affiliate with the Democrats. +At first it seemed that a respectable number of whites might be secured for +the radical party, but the rapid organization of the Negroes checked the +accession of whites. In the winter and spring of 1866-67, the Negroes near the +towns were well organized by the Union League and the Freedmen's Bureau and +then, after the passage of the reconstruction acts, the organizing activities +of the radical chieftains shifted to the rural districts. The Union League was +greatly extended; Union League conventions were held to which local whites +were not admitted; and the formation of a black man's party was well on the +way before the registration of the voters was completed. Visiting statesmen +from the North, among them Henry Wilson of Massachusetts and "Pig Iron" Kelley +of Pennsylvania, toured the South in support of the radical program, and the +registrars and all Federal officials aided in the work. + +* See "The Day of the Confederacy", by Nathaniel W. Stephenson (in "The +Chronicles of America"), p. 121, footnote. + + +The whites, slow to comprehend the real extent of radicalism, were finally +aroused to the necessity of organizing, if they were to influence the Negro +and have a voice in the conventions. The old party divisions were still +evident. With difficulty a portion of the Whigs was brought with the Democrats +into one conservative party during the summer and fall of 1867, though many +still held aloof. The lack of the old skilled leadership was severely felt. In +places where the white man's party was given a name, it was called "Democratic +and Conservative," to spare the feelings of former Whigs who were loath to +bear the party name of their quondam opponents. + +The first step in the military reconstruction was the registration of voters. +In each State a central board of registrars was appointed by the district +commander and a local board for every county and large town. Each board +consisted of three members--all radicals--who were required to subscribe to +the "ironclad" oath. In several states one Negro was appointed to each local +board. The registrars listed Negro voters during the day, and at night worked +at the organization of a radical Republican party. The prospective voters were +required to take the oath prescribed in the Reconstruction Act, but the +registrars were empowered to go behind the oath and investigate the +Confederate record of each applicant. This authority was invoked to carry the +disfranchisement of the whites far beyond the intention of the law in an +attempt to destroy the leadership of the whites and to register enough Negroes +to outvote them at the polls. For this purpose the registration was continued +until October 1, 1867, and an active campaign of education and organization +carried on. + +At the close of the registration, 703,000 black voters were on the rolls and +627,000 whites. In Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and +Mississippi there were black majorities, and in the other States the blacks +and the radical whites together formed majorities. The white minorities +included several thousand who had been rejected by the registrars but restored +by the military commanders. Though large numbers of blacks were dropped from +the revised rolls as fraudulently registered, the registration statistics, +nevertheless, bore clear witness to the political purpose of those who +compiled them. + +Next followed a vote on the question of holding a state convention and the +election of delegates to such a convention if held--a double election. The +whites, who had been harassed in the registration and who feared race +conflicts at the elections, considered whether they ought not to abstain from +voting. By staying away from the polls, they might bring the vote cast in each +State below a majority and thus defeat the proposed conventions for, unless a +majority of the registered voters actually cast ballots either for or against +a convention, no convention could be held. Nowhere, however, was this plan of +not voting fully carried out, for, though most whites abstained, enough of +them voted (against the conventions, of course) to make the necessary majority +in each State. The effect of the abstention policy upon the personnel of the +conventions was unfortunate. In every convention there was a radical majority +with a conservative and all but negligible minority. In South Carolina and +Louisiana, there were Negro majorities. In every State except North Carolina, +Texas, and Virginia, the Negroes and the carpetbaggers together were in the +majority over native whites. + +The conservative whites were of fair ability; the carpetbaggers and scalawags +produced in each convention a few able leaders, but most of them were +conscienceless political soldiers of fortune; the Negro members were +inexperienced, and most of them were quite ignorant, though a few leaders of +ability did appear among them. In Alabama, for example, only two Negro members +could write, though half had been taught to sign their names. They were +barbers, field hands, hack drivers, and servants. A Negro chaplain was elected +who invoked divine blessings on "unioners and cusses on rebels." It was a sign +of the new era when the convention specially invited the "ladies of colored +members" to seats in the gallery. + +The work of the conventions was for the most part cut and dried, the abler +members having reached a general agreement before they met. The constitutions, +mosaics of those of other states, were noteworthy only for the provisions made +to keep the whites out of power and to regulate the relations of the races in +social matters. The Texas constitution alone contained no proscriptive clauses +beyond those required by the Fourteenth Amendment. The most thoroughgoing +proscription of Confederates was found in the constitutions of Mississippi, +Alabama, and Virginia; and in these states the voter must also purge himself +of guilt by agreeing to accept the "civil and political equality of all men" +or by supporting reconstruction. Only in South Carolina and Louisiana were +race lines abolished by law. + +The legislative work of the conventions was more interesting than the +constitution making. By ordinance the legality of Negro marriages was dated +from November 1867, or some date later than had been fixed by the white +conventions of 1865. Mixed schools were provided in some States; militia for +the black districts but not for the white was to be raised; while in South +Carolina it was made a penal offense to call a person a "Yankee" or a +"nigger." Few of the Negro delegates demanded proscription of whites or social +equality; they wanted schools and the vote. The white radicals were more +anxious to keep the former Confederates from holding office than from voting. +The generals in command everywhere used their influence to secure moderate +action by the conventions, and for this they were showered with abuse. + +As provided by the reconstruction acts, the new constitutions were submitted +to the electorate created by those instruments. Unless a majority of the +registered voters in a State should take part in the election, the +reconstruction would fail and the State would remain under military rule. The +whites now inaugurated a more systematic policy of abstention and in Alabama, +on February 4, 1868, succeeded in holding the total vote below a majority. +Congress then rushed to the rescue of radicalism with the act of the 11th of +March, which provided that a mere majority of those voting in the State was +sufficient to inaugurate reconstruction. Arkansas had followed the lead of +Alabama, but too late; in Mississippi the constitution was defeated by a +majority vote; in Texas the convention had made no provision for a vote; and +in Virginia the commanding general, disapproving of the work of the +convention, refused to pay the expenses of an election. In the other six +States the constitutions were adopted.* + +* Except in Texas, the work of constitution making was completed between +November 5, 1867, and May 18, 1868. + +These elections gave rise to more violent contests than before. They also were +double elections, as the voters cast ballots for state and local officials and +at the same time for or against the constitution. The radical nominations were +made by the Union League and the Freedmen's Bureau, and nearly all radicals +who had been members of conventions were nominated and elected to office. The +Negroes, expecting now to reap some benefits of reconstruction, frequently +brought sacks to the polls to "put the franchise in." The elections were all +over by June 1868, and the newly elected legislatures promptly ratified the +Fourteenth Amendment. + +It now remained for Congress to approve the work done in the South and to +readmit the reorganized states. The case of Alabama gave some trouble. Even +Stevens, for a time, thought that this state should stay out; but there was +danger in delay. The success of the abstention policy in Alabama and Arkansas +and the reviving interest of the whites foreshadowed white majorities in some +places; the scalawags began to forsake the radical party for the +conservatives; and there were Democratic gains in the North in 1867. Only six +states, New York and five New England States, allowed the Negro to vote, while +four states, Minnesota, Michigan, Kansas, and Ohio, voted down Negro suffrage +after the passage of the reconstruction acts. The ascendancy of the radicals +in Congress was menaced. The radicals needed the support of their radical +brethren in Southern States and they could not afford to wait for the +Fourteenth Amendment to become a part of the Constitution or to tolerate other +delay. On the 22d and the 25th of June, acts were therefore passed admitting +seven states, Alabama included, to representation in Congress upon the +"fundamental condition" that "the constitutions of neither of said States +shall ever be so amended or changed as to deprive any citizens or class of +citizens of the United States of the right to vote in said State, who are +entitled to vote by the constitution thereof herein recognized." + +The generals now turned over the government to the recently elected radical +officials and retired into the background. Military reconstruction was thus +accomplished in all the States except Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas. + + + +CHAPTER VII. THE TRIAL OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON + +While the radical program was being executed in the South, Congress was +engaged not only in supervising reconstruction but in subduing the Supreme +Court and in "conquering" President Johnson. One must admire the efficiency of +the radical machine. When the Southerners showed that they preferred military +rule as permitted by the Act of the 2nd of March, Congress passed the Act of +the 23d of March which forced the reconstruction. When the President ventured +to assert his power in behalf of a considerate administration of the +reconstruction acts, Congress took the power out of his hands by the law of +the 19th of July. The Southern plan to defeat the new state constitutions by +abstention was no sooner made clear in the case of Alabama than Congress came +to the rescue with the Act of March 11, 1868. + +Had it seemed necessary, Congress would have handled the Supreme Court as it +did the Southerners. The opponents of radical reconstruction were anxious to +get the reconstruction laws of March 1867, before the Court. Chief Justice +Chase was known to be opposed to military reconstruction, and four other +justices were, it was believed, doubtful of the constitutionality of the laws. +A series of conservative decisions gave hope to those who looked to the Court +for relief. The first decision, in the case of ex parte Milligan, declared +unconstitutional the trials of civilians by military commissions when civil +courts were open. A few months later, in the cases of Cummings vs. Missouri +and ex parte Garland, the Court declared invalid, because ex post facto, the +state laws designed to punish former Confederates. + +But the first attempts to get the reconstruction acts before the Supreme Court +failed. The State of Mississippi, in April 1867, brought suit to restrain the +President from executing the reconstruction acts. The Court refused to +interfere with the executive. A similar suit was then brought against +Secretary Stanton by Georgia with a like result. But in 1868, in the case of +ex parte McCardle, it appeared that the question of the constitutionality of +the reconstruction acts would be passed upon. McCardle, a Mississippi editor +arrested for opposition to reconstruction and convicted by military +commission, appealed to the Supreme Court, which asserted its jurisdiction. +But the radicals in alarm rushed through Congress an act (March 27, 1868) +which took away from the Court its jurisdiction in cases arising under the +reconstruction acts. The highest court was thus silenced. + +The attempt to remove the President from office was the only part of the +radical program that failed, and this by the narrowest of margins. During the +spring and summer of 1866, there was some talk among politicians of impeaching +President Johnson, and in December a resolution was introduced by +Representative Ashley of Ohio looking toward impeachment. Though the committee +charged with the investigation of "the official conduct of Andrew Johnson" +reported that enough testimony had been taken to justify further inquiry, the +House took no action. There were no less than five attempts at impeachment +during the next year. Stevens, Butler, and others were anxious to get the +President out of the way, but the majority were as yet unwilling to impeach +for merely political reasons. There were some who thought that the radicals +had sufficient majorities to ensure all needed legislation and did not relish +the thought of Ben Wade in the presidency.* Others considered that no just +grounds for action had been found in the several investigations of Johnson's +record. Besides, the President's authority and influence had been much +curtailed by the legislation relating to the Freedmen's Bureau, tenure of +office, reconstruction, and command of the army, and Congress had also refused +to recognize his amnesty and pardoning powers. + +* Senator Wade of Ohio was President pro tempore of the Senate and by the act +of 1791 would succeed President Johnson if he were removed from office. + +But the desire to impeach the President was increasing in power, and very +little was needed to provoke a trial of strength between the radicals and the +President. The drift toward impeachment was due in part to the legislative +reaction against the executive, and in part to Johnson's own opposition to +reconstruction and to his use of the patronage against the radicals. Specific +grievances were found in his vetoes of the various reconstruction bills, in +his criticisms of Congress and the radical leaders, and in the fact, as +Stevens asserted, that he was a "radical renegade." Johnson was a Southern +man, an old-line State Rights Democrat, somewhat anti-Negro in feeling. He +knew no book except the Constitution, and that he loved with all his soul. +Sure of the correctness of his position, he was too stubborn to change or to +compromise. He was no more to be moved than Stevens or Sumner. To overcome +Johnson's vetoes required two-thirds of each House of Congress; to impeach and +remove him would require only a majority of the House and two-thirds of the +Senate. + +The desired occasion for impeachment was furnished by Johnson's attempt to get +Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, out of the Cabinet. Stanton held +radical views and was at no time sympathetic with or loyal to Johnson, but he +loved office too well to resign along with those cabinet members who could not +follow the President in his struggle with Congress. He was seldom frank and +sincere in his dealings with the President, and kept up an underhand +correspondence with the radical leaders, even assisting in framing some of the +reconstruction legislation which was designed to render Johnson powerless. In +him the radicals had a representative within the President's Cabinet. + + +Wearied of Stanton's disloyalty, Johnson asked him to resign and, upon a +refusal, suspended him in August 1867, and placed General Grant in temporary +charge of the War Department. General Grant, Chief Justice Chase, and +Secretary McCulloch, though they all disliked Stanton, advised the President +against suspending him. But Johnson was determined. About the same time he +exercised his power in removing Sheridan and Sickles from their commands in +the South and replaced them with Hancock and Canby. The radicals were furious, +but Johnson had secured at least the support of a loyal Cabinet. + +The suspension of Stanton was reported to the Senate in December 1867, and on +January 13, 1868, the Senate voted not to concur in the President's action. +Upon receiving notice of the vote in the Senate, Grant at once left the War +Department and Stanton again took possession. Johnson now charged Grant with +failing to keep a promise either to hold on himself or to make it possible to +appoint some one else who would hold on until the matter might be brought into +the courts. The President by this accusation angered Grant and threw him with +his great influence into the arms of the radicals. Against the advice of his +leading counselors, Johnson persisted in his intention to keep Stanton out of +the Cabinet. Accordingly on the 21st of February he dismissed Stanton from +office and appointed Lorenzo Thomas, the Adjutant General, as acting Secretary +of War. Stanton, advised by the radicals in Congress to "stick," refused to +yield possession to Thomas and had him arrested for violation of the Tenure of +Office Act. The matter now was in the courts where Johnson wanted it, but the +radical leaders, fearing that the courts would decide against Stanton and the +reconstruction acts, had the charges against Thomas withdrawn. Thus failed the +last attempt to get the reconstruction laws before the courts. On the 22nd of +February, the President sent to the Senate the name of Thomas Ewing, General +Sherman's father-in-law, as Secretary of War, but no attention was paid to the +nomination. + +On February 24, 1868, the House voted, 128 to 47, to impeach the President "of +high crimes and misdemeanors in office." The Senate was formally notified the +next day, and on the 4th of March the seven managers selected by the House +appeared before the Senate with the eleven articles of impeachment. At first +it seemed to the public that the impeachment proceedings were merely the +culmination of a struggle for the control of the army. There were rumors that +Johnson had plans to use the army against Congress and against reconstruction. +General Grant, directed by Johnson to accept orders from Stanton only if he +were satisfied that they came from the President, refused to follow these +instructions. Stanton, professing to fear violence, barricaded himself in the +War Department and was furnished with a guard of soldiers by General Grant, +who from this time used his influence in favor of impeachment. Excited by the +most sensational rumors, some people even believed a new rebellion to be +imminent. + +The impeachment was rushed to trial by the House managers and was not ended +until the decision was taken by the votes of the 16th and 26th of May. The +eleven articles of impeachment consisted of summaries of all that had been +charged against Johnson, except the charge that he had been an accomplice in +the murder of Lincoln. The only one which had any real basis was the first, +which asserted that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act in trying to +remove Stanton. The other articles were merely expansions of the first or were +based upon Johnson's opposition to reconstruction or upon his speeches in +criticism of Congress. Nothing could be said about his control of the +patronage, though this was one of the unwritten charges. J. W. Schuckers, in +his life of Chase, says that the radical leaders "felt the vast importance of +the presidential patronage; many of them felt, too, that, according to the +maxim that to the victors belong the spoils, the Republican party was +rightfully entitled to the Federal patronage, and they determined to get +possession of it. There was but one method and that was by impeachment and +removal of the President." + +The leading House managers were Stevens, Butler, Bingham, and Boutwell, all +better known as politicians than as lawyers. The President was represented by +an abler legal array: Curtis, Evarts, Stanbery, Nelson, and Groesbeck. +Jeremiah Black was at first one of the counsel for the President but withdrew +under conditions not entirely creditable to himself. + +The trial was a one-sided affair. The President's counsel were refused more +than six days for the preparation of the case. Chief Justice Chase, who +presided over the trial, insisted upon regarding the Senate as a judicial and +not a political body, and he accordingly ruled that only legal evidence should +be admitted; but the Senate majority preferred to assume that they were +settling a political question. Much evidence favorable to the President was +excluded, but everything else was admitted. As the trial went on, the country +began to understand that the impeachment was a mistake. Few people wanted to +see Senator Wade made President. The partisan attitude of the Senate majority +and the weakness of the case against Johnson had much to do in moderating +public opinion, and the timely nomination of General Schofield as Secretary of +War after Stanton's resignation reassured those who feared that the army might +be placed under some extreme Democrat. + +As the time drew near for the decision, every possible pressure was brought by +the radicals to induce senators to vote for conviction. To convict the +President, thirty-six votes were necessary. There were only twelve Democrats +in the Senate, but all were known to be in favor of acquittal. When the test +came on the 16th of May, seven Republicans voted with the Democrats for +acquittal on the eleventh article. Another vote on the 26th of May, on the +first and second articles, showed that conviction was not possible. The +radical legislative reaction was thus checked at its highest point and the +presidency as a part of the American governmental system was no longer in +danger. The seven Republicans had, however, signed their own political death +warrants; they were never forgiven by the party leaders. + +The presidential campaign was beginning to take shape even before the +impeachment trial began. Both the Democrats and the reorganized Republicans +were turning with longing toward General Grant as a candidate. Though he had +always been a Democrat, Nevertheless, when Johnson actually called him a liar +and a promise breaker, Grant went over to the radicals and was nominated for +President on May 20, 1868, by the National Union Republican party. Schuyler +Colfax was the candidate for Vice President. The Democrats, who could have won +with Grant and who under good leadership still had a bare chance to win, +nominated Horatio Seymour of New York and Francis P. Blair of Missouri. The +former had served as war governor of New York, while the latter was considered +an extreme Democrat who believed that the radical reconstruction of the South +should be stopped, the troops withdrawn, and the people left to form their own +governments. The Democratic platform pronounced itself opposed to the +reconstruction policy, but Blair's opposition was too extreme for the North. +Seymour, more moderate and a skillful campaigner, made headway in the +rehabilitation of the Democratic party. The Republican party declared for +radical reconstruction and Negro suffrage in the South but held that each +Northern State should be allowed to settle the suffrage for itself. It was not +a courageous platform, but Grant was popular and carried his party through to +success. + +The returns showed that in the election Grant had carried twenty-six States +with 214 electoral votes, while Seymour had carried only eight States with 80 +votes. But an examination of the popular vote, which was 3,000,000 for Grant +and 2,700,000 for Seymour, gave the radicals cause for alarm, for it showed +that the Democrats had more white votes than the Republicans, whose total +included nearly 700,000 blacks. To insure the continuance of the radicals in +power, the Fifteenth Amendment was framed and sent out to the States on +February 26, 1869. This amendment appeared not only to make safe the Negro +majorities in the South but also gave the ballot to the Negroes in a score of +Northern States and thus assured, for a time at least, 900,000 Negro voters +for the Republican party. + +When Johnson's term ended and he gave place to President Grant, four states +were still unreconstructed--Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, in which the +reconstruction had failed, and Georgia, which, after accomplishing +reconstruction, had again been placed under military rule by Congress. In +Virginia, which was too near the capital for such rough work as readmitted +Arkansas and Alabama into the Union, the new constitution was so severe in its +provisions for disfranchisement that the disgusted district commander would +not authorize the expenditure necessary to have it voted on. In Mississippi a +similar constitution had failed of adoption, and in Texas the strife of party +factions, radical and moderate Republican, had so delayed the framing of the +constitution that it had not come to a vote. + +The Republican politicians, however, wanted the offices in these States, and +Congress by its resolution of February 18, 1869, directed the district +commanders to remove all civil officers who could not take the "ironclad" oath +and to appoint those who could subscribe to it. An exception, however, was +made in favor of the scalawags who had supported reconstruction and whose +disabilities had been removed by Congress. + +President Grant was anxious to complete the reconstruction and recommended to +Congress that the constitutions of Virginia and Mississippi be re-submitted to +the people with a separate vote on the disfranchising sections. Congress, now +in harmony with the executive, responded by placing the reconstruction of the +three states in the hands of the President, but with the proviso that each +state must ratify the Fifteenth Amendment. Grant thereupon fixed a time for +voting in each state and directed that in Virginia and Mississippi the +disfranchising clauses be submitted separately. As a result, the constitutions +were ratified but proscription was voted down. The radicals secured control of +Mississippi and Texas, but a conservative combination carried Virginia and +thus came near keeping the state out of the Union. Finally, during the early +months of 1870 the three states were readmitted. + +With respect to Georgia a peculiar condition of affairs existed. In June 1868, +Georgia had been readmitted with the first of the reconstructed States. The +state legislature at once expelled the twenty-seven Negro members, on the +ground that the recent legislation and the state constitution gave the Negroes +the right to vote but not to hold office. Congress, which had already admitted +the Georgia representatives, refused to receive the senators and turned the +state back to military control. In 1869-70, Georgia was again reconstructed +after a drastic purging of the legislature by the military commander, the +reseating of the Negro members, and the ratification of both the Fourteenth +and Fifteenth Amendments. The state was readmitted to representation in July +1870, after the failure of a strong effort to extend for two years the +carpetbag government of the state. + +Upon the last states to pass under the radical yoke, heavier conditions were +imposed than upon the earlier ones. Not only were they required to ratify the +Fifteenth Amendment, but the "fundamental conditions" embraced, in addition to +the prohibition against future change of the suffrage, a requirement that the +Negroes should never be deprived of school and office-holding rights. + +The congressional plan of reconstruction had thus been carried through by able +leaders in the face of the opposition of a united white South, nearly half the +North, the President, the Supreme Court, and in the beginning a majority of +Congress. This success was due to the poor leadership of the conservatives and +to the ability and solidarity of the radicals led by Stevens and Sumner. The +radicals had a definite program; the moderates had not. The object of the +radicals was to secure the supremacy in the South by the aid of the Negroes +and exclusion of whites. Was this policy politically wise? It was at least +temporarily successful. The choice offered by the radicals seemed to lie +between military rule for an indefinite period and Negro suffrage; and since +most Americans found military rule distasteful, they preferred to try Negro +suffrage. But, after all, Negro suffrage had to be supported by military rule, +and in the end both failed completely. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE UNION LEAGUE OF AMERICA + +The elections of 1867-68 showed that the Negroes were well organized under the +control of the radical Republican leaders and that their former masters had +none of the influence over the blacks in political matters which had been +feared by some Northern friends of the Negro and had been hoped for by such +Southern leaders as Governor Patton and General Hampton. Before 1865 the +discipline of slavery, the influence of the master's family, and of the +Southern church had sufficed to control the blacks. But after emancipation +they looked to the Federal soldiers and Union officials as the givers of +freedom and the guardians of the future. + +From the Union soldiers, especially the Negro troops, from the Northern +teachers, the missionaries and the organizers of Negro churches, from the +Northern officials and traveling politicians, the Negroes learned that their +interests were not those of the whites. The attitude of the average white in +the South often confirmed this growing estrangement. It was difficult even for +the white leaders to explain the riots at Memphis and New Orleans. And those +who sincerely wished well for the Negro and who desired to control him for the +good of both races could not possibly assure him that he was fit for the +suffrage. For even Patton and Hampton must tell him that they knew better than +he and that he should follow their advice. + +The appeal made to freedmen by the Northern leaders was in every way more +forceful, because it bad behind it the prestige of victory in war and for the +future it could promise anything. Until 1867, the principal agency in bringing +about the separation of the races had been the Freedmen's Bureau which, with +its authority, its courts, its rations, clothes, and its "forty acres and a +mule," did effective work in breaking down the influence of the master. But to +understand fully the almost absolute control exercised over the blacks in +1867-68 by alien adventurers, one must examine the workings of an oath-bound +society known as the Union or Loyal League. It was this order, dominated by a +few radical whites, which organized, disciplined, and controlled the ignorant +Negro masses and paralyzed the influence of the conservative whites. + +The Union League of America had its origin in Ohio in the fall of 1862, when +the outlook for the Union cause was gloomy. The moderate policies of the +Lincoln Administration had alienated those in favor of extreme measures; the +Confederates had won military successes in the field; the Democrats had made +some gains in the elections; the Copperheads* were actively opposed to the +Washington Government; the Knights of the Golden Circle were organizing to +resist the continuance of the war; and the Emancipation Proclamation had +chilled the loyalty of many Union men, which was everywhere at a low ebb, +especially in the Northern cities. It was to counteract these depressing +influences that the Union League movement was begun among those who were +associated in the work of the United States Sanitary Commission. Observing the +threatening state of public opinion, members of this organization proposed +that "loyalty be organized, consolidated and made effective." + +* See "Abraham Lincoln and the Union", by Nathaniel W. Stephenson (in "The +Chronicles of America"), pp. 156-7, 234-5. + + +The first organization was made by eleven men in Cleveland, Ohio, in November +1862. The Philadelphia Union League was organized a month later, and in +January 1863, the New York Union League followed. The members were pledged to +uncompromising and unconditional loyalty to the Union, to complete +subordination of political views to this loyalty, and to the repudiation of +any belief in state rights. The other large cities followed the example of +Philadelphia and New York, and soon Leagues, connected in a loose federation, +were formed all through the North. They were social as well as political in +their character and assumed as their task the stimulation and direction of +loyal Union opinion. + +As the Union armies proceeded to occupy the South, the Union League sent its +agents among the disaffected Southern people. Its agents cared for Negro +refugees in the contraband camps and in the North. In such work the League +cooperated with the various Freedmen's Aid Societies, the Department of Negro +Affairs, and later with the Freedmen's Bureau. Part of the work of the League +was to distribute campaign literature, and many of the radical pamphlets on +reconstruction and the Negro problem bore the Union League imprint. The New +York League sent out about seventy thousand copies of various publications, +while the Philadelphia League far surpassed this record, circulating within +eight years four million five hundred thousand copies of 144 different +pamphlets. The literature consisted largely of accounts of "Southern outrages" +taken from the reports of Bureau agents and similar sources. + +With the close of the Civil War the League did not cease its active interest +in things political. It was one of the first organizations to declare for +Negro suffrage and the disfranchisement of Confederates; it held steadily to +this declaration during the four years following the war; and it continued as +a sort of bureau in the radical Republican party for the purpose of +controlling the Negro vote in the South. Its representatives were found in the +lobbies of Congress demanding extreme measures, endorsing the reconstruction +policies of Congress, and condemning the course of the President. After the +first year or two of reconstruction, the Leagues in the larger Northern cities +began to grow away from the strictly political Union League of America and +tended to become mere social clubs for members of the same political belief. +The eminently respectable Philadelphia and New York clubs had little in common +with the leagues of the Southern and Border States except a general adherence +to the radical program. + +Even before the end of the war the League was extending its organization into +the parts of the Confederacy held by the Federal forces, admitting to +membership the army officers and the leading Unionists, though maintaining for +the sake of the latter "a discreet secrecy." With the close of the war and the +establishment of army posts over the South, the League grew rapidly. The +civilians who followed the army, the Bureau agents, the missionaries, and the +Northern teachers formed one class of membership; and the loyalists of the +hill and mountain country, who had become disaffected toward the Confederate +administration and had formed such orders as the Heroes of America, the Red +String Band, and the Peace Society, formed another class. Soon there were +added to these the deserters, a few old line Whigs who intensely disliked the +Democrats, and others who decided to cast their lot with the victors. The +disaffected politicians of the up-country, who wanted to be cared for in the +reconstruction, saw in the organization a means of dislodging from power the +political leaders of the low country. It has been estimated that thirty +percent of the white men of the hill and mountain counties of the South joined +the Union League in 1865-66. They cared little about the original objects of +the order but hoped to make it the nucleus of an anti-Democratic political +organization. + +But on the admission of Negroes into the lodges or councils controlled by +Northern men the native white members began to withdraw. From the beginning +the Bureau agents, the teachers, and the preachers had been holding meetings +of Negroes, to whom they gave advice about the problems of freedom. Very early +these advisers of the blacks grasped the possibilities inherent in their +control of the schools, the rationing system, and the churches. By the spring +of 1866, the Negroes were widely organized under this leadership, and it +needed but slight change to convert the Negro meetings into local councils of +the Union League.* As soon as it seemed likely that Congress would win in its +struggle with the President the guardians of the Negro planned their campaign +for the control of the race. Negro leaders were organized into councils of the +League or into Union Republican Clubs. Over the South went the organizers, +until by 1868 the last Negroes were gathered into the fold. + +* Of these teachers of the local blacks, E. L. Godkin, editor of the New York +Nation, who had supported the reconstruction acts, said: "Worse instructors +for men emerging from slavery and coming for the first time face to face with +the problems of free life than the radical agitators who have undertaken the +political guidance of the blacks it would be hard to meet with." + + +The native whites did not all desert the Union League when the Negroes were +brought in. Where the blacks were most numerous the desertion of whites was +general, but in the regions where they were few some of the whites remained +for several years. The elections of 1868 showed a falling off of the white +radical vote from that of 1867, one measure of the extent of loss of whites. +From this time forward the order consisted mainly of blacks with enough whites +for leaders. In the Black Belt the membership of native whites was discouraged +by requiring an oath to the effect that secession was treason. The +carpetbagger had found that he could control the Negro without the help of the +scalawag. The League organization was soon extended and centralized; in every +black district there was a Council; for the state there was a Grand Council; +and for the United States there was a National Grand Council with headquarters +in New York City. + +The influence of the League over the Negro was due in large degree to the +mysterious secrecy of the meetings, the weird initiation ceremony that made +him feel fearfully good from his head to his heels, the imposing ritual, and +the songs. The ritual, it is said, was not used in the North; it was probably +adopted for the particular benefit of the African. The would-be Leaguer was +informed that the emblems of the order were the altar, the Bible, the +Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the flag +of the Union, censer, sword, gavel, ballot box, sickle, shuttle, anvil, and +other emblems of industry. He was told to the accompaniment of clanking chains +and groans that the objects of the order were to preserve liberty, to +perpetuate the Union, to maintain the laws and the Constitution, to secure the +ascendancy of American institutions, to protect, defend, and strengthen all +loyal men and members of the Union League in all rights of person and +property, to demand the elevation of labor, to aid in the education of +laboring men, and to teach the duties of American citizenship. This +enumeration of the objects of the League sounded well and was impressive. At +this point the Negro was always willing to take an oath of secrecy, after +which he was asked to swear with a solemn oath to support the principles of +the Declaration of Independence, to pledge himself to resist all attempts to +overthrow the United States, to strive for the maintenance of liberty, the +elevation of labor, the education of all people in the duties of citizenship, +to practice friendship and charity to all of the order, and to support for +election or appointment to office only such men as were supporters of these +principles and measures. + +The council then sang "Hail, Columbia!" and "The Star Spangled Banner," after +which an official lectured the candidates, saying that though the designs of +traitors had been thwarted, there were yet to be secured legislative triumphs +and the complete ascendancy of the true principles of popular government, +equal liberty, education and elevation of the workmen, and the overthrow at +the ballot box of the old oligarchy of political leaders. After prayer by the +chaplain, the room was darkened, alcohol on salt flared up with a ghastly +light as the "fire of liberty," and the members joined hands in a circle +around the candidate, who was made to place one hand on the flag and, with the +other raised, swear again to support the government and to elect true Union +men to office. Then placing his hand on a Bible, for the third time he swore +to keep his oath, and repeated after the president "the Freedmen's Pledge": +"To defend and perpetuate freedom and the Union, I pledge my life, my fortune, +and my sacred honor. So help me God!" "John Brown's Body" was then sung, the +president charged the members in a long speech concerning the principles of +the order, and the marshal instructed the neophyte in the signs. To pass one's +self as a Leaguer, the "Four L's" had to be given: (1) with right hand raised +to heaven, thumb and third finger touching ends over palm, pronounce +"Liberty"; (2) bring the hand down over the shoulder and say "Lincoln"; (3) +drop the hand open at the side and say "Loyal"; (4) catch the thumb in the +vest or in the waistband and pronounce "League." This ceremony of initiation +proved a most effective means of impressing and controlling the Negro through +his love and fear of secret, mysterious, and midnight mummery. An oath taken +in daylight might be forgotten before the next day; not so an oath taken in +the dead of night under such impressive circumstances. After passing through +the ordeal, the Negro usually remained faithful. + +In each populous precinct there was at least one council of the League, and +always one for blacks. In each town or city there were two councils, one for +the whites, and another, with white officers, for the blacks. The council met +once a week, sometimes oftener, nearly always at night, and in a Negro church +or schoolhouse. Guards, armed with rifles and shotguns, were stationed about +the place of meeting in order to keep away intruders. Members of some councils +made it a practice to attend the meetings armed as if for battle. In these +meetings the Negroes listened to inflammatory speeches by the would-be +statesmen of the new regime; here they were drilled in a passionate conviction +that their interests and those of the Southern whites were eternally at war. + +White men who joined the order before the Negroes were admitted and who left +when the latter became members asserted that the Negroes were taught in these +meetings that the only way to have peace and plenty, to get "the forty acres +and a mule," was to kill some of the leading whites in each community as a +warning to others. In North Carolina twenty-eight barns were burned in one +county by Negroes who believed that Governor Holden, the head of the State +League, had ordered it. The council in Tuscumbia, Alabama, received advice +from Memphis to use the torch because the blacks were at war with the white +race. The advice was taken. Three men went in front of the council as an +advance guard, three followed with coal oil and fire, and others guarded the +rear. The plan was to burn the whole town, but first one Negro and then +another insisted on having some white man's house spared because "he is a good +man." In the end no residences were burned, and a happy compromise was +effected by burning the Female Academy. Three of the leaders were afterwards +lynched. + +The general belief of the whites was that the ultimate object of the order was +to secure political power and thus bring about on a large scale the +confiscation of the property of Confederates, and meanwhile to appropriate and +destroy the property of their political opponents wherever possible. Chicken +houses, pigpens, vegetable gardens, and orchards were visited by members +returning from the midnight conclaves. During the presidential campaign of +1868, the North Carolina League sent out circular instructions to the blacks +advising them to drill regularly and to join the militia, for if Grant were +not elected the Negroes would go back to slavery; if he were elected, the +Negroes were to have farms, mules, and offices. + +As soon as possible after the war the Negroes had supplied themselves with +guns and dogs as badges of freedom. They carried their guns to the League +meetings, often marching in military formation, went through the drill there, +marched home again along the roads, shouting, firing, and indulging in boasts +and threats against persons whom they disliked. Later, military parades in the +daytime were much favored. Several hundred Negroes would march up and down the +streets, abusing whites, and shoving them off the sidewalk or out of the road. +But on the whole, there was very little actual violence, though the whites +were much alarmed at times. That outrages were comparatively few was due, not +to any sensible teachings of the leaders, but to the fundamental good nature +of the blacks, who were generally content with mere impudence. + +The relations between the races, indeed, continued on the whole to be friendly +until 1867-68. For a while, in some localities before the advent of the +League, and in others where the Bureau was conducted by native magistrates, +the Negroes looked to their old masters for guidance and advice; and the +latter, for the good of both races, were most eager to retain a moral control +over the blacks. They arranged barbecues and picnics for the Negroes, made +speeches, gave good advice, and believed that everything promised well. +Sometimes the Negroes themselves arranged the festival and invited prominent +whites, for whom a separate table attended by Negro waiters was reserved; and +after dinner there followed speeches by both whites and blacks. + +With the organization of the League, the Negroes grew more reserved, and +finally became openly unfriendly to the whites. The League alone, however, was +not responsible for this change. The League and the Bureau had to some extent +the same personnel, and it is frequently impossible to distinguish clearly +between the influence of the two. In many ways the League was simply the +political side of the Bureau. The preaching and teaching missionaries were +also at work. And apart from the organized influences at work, the poor whites +never laid aside their hostility towards the blacks, bond or free. + +When the campaigns grew exciting, the discipline of the order was used to +prevent the Negroes from attending Democratic meetings and hearing Democratic +speakers. The leaders even went farther and forbade the attendance of the +blacks at political meetings where the speakers were not endorsed by the +League. Almost invariably the scalawag disliked the Leaguer, black or white, +and as a political teacher often found himself proscribed by the League. At a +Republican mass meeting in Alabama, a white Republican who wanted to make a +speech was shouted down by the Negroes because he was "opposed to the Loyal +League." He then went to another place to speak but was followed by the crowd, +which refused to allow him to say anything. All Republicans in good standing +had to join the League and swear that secession was treason--a rather stiff +dose for the scalawag. Judge (later Governor) David P. Lewis, of Alabama, was +a member for a short while but he soon became disgusted and published a +denunciation of the order. Albion W. Tourgee, the author, a radical judge, was +the first chief of the League in North Carolina and was succeeded by Governor +Holden. In Alabama, Generals Swayne, Spencer, and Warner, all candidates for +the United States Senate, hastened to join the order. + +As soon as a candidate was nominated by the League, it was the duty of every +member to support him actively. Failure to do so resulted in a fine or other +more severe punishment, and members who had been expelled were still +considered under the control of the officials. The League was, in fact, the +machine of the radical party, and all candidates had to be governed by its +edicts. As the Montgomery Council declared, the Union League was "the right +arm of the Union-Republican party in the United States." + +Every Negro was ex colore a member or under the control of the League. In the +opinion of the League, white Democrats were bad enough, but black Democrats +were not to be tolerated. It was almost necessary, as a measure of personal +safety, for each black to support the radical program. It was possible in some +cases for a Negro to refrain from taking an active part in political affairs. +He might even fail to vote. But it was actually dangerous for a black to be a +Democrat; that is, to try to follow his old master in politics. The whites in +many cases were forced to advise their few faithful black friends to vote the +radical ticket in order to escape mistreatment. Those who showed Democratic +leanings were proscribed in Negro society and expelled from Negro churches; +the Negro women would not "proshay" (appreciate) a black Democrat. Such a one +was sure to find that influence was being brought to bear upon his dusky +sweetheart or his wife to cause him to see the error of his ways, and +persistent adherence to the white party would result in his losing her. The +women were converted to radicalism before the men, and they almost invariably +used their influence strongly in behalf of the League. If moral suasion failed +to cause the delinquent to see the light, other methods were used. Threats +were common and usually sufficed. Fines were levied by the League on +recalcitrant members. In case of the more stubborn, a sound beating was +effective to bring about a change of heart. The offending party was "bucked +and gagged," or he was tied by the thumbs and thrashed. Usually the sufferer +was too afraid to complain of the way he was treated. + +Some of the methods of the Loyal League were similar to those of the later Ku +Klux Klan. Anonymous warnings were sent to obnoxious individuals, houses were +burned, notices were posted at night in public places and on the houses of +persons who had incurred the hostility of the order. In order to destroy the +influence of the whites where kindly relations still existed, an "exodus +order" issued through the League directed all members to leave their old homes +and obtain work elsewhere. Some of the blacks were loath to comply with this +order, but to remonstrances from the whites the usual reply was: "De word done +sent to de League. We got to go." For special meetings the Negroes were in +some regions called together by signal guns. In this way the call for a +gathering went out over a county in a few minutes and a few hours later nearly +all the members in the county assembled at the appointed place. + +Negroes as organizing agents were inclined to go to extremes and for that +reason were not so much used. In Bullock County, Alabama, a council of the +League was organized under the direction of a Negro emissary, who proceeded to +assume the government of the community. A list of crimes and punishments was +adopted, a court with various officials was established, and during the night +the Negroes who opposed the new regime were arrested. But the black sheriff +and his deputy were in turn arrested by the civil authorities. The Negroes +then organized for resistance, flocked into the county seat, and threatened to +exterminate the whites and take possession of the county. Their agents visited +the plantations and forced the laborers to join them by showing orders +purporting to be from General Swayne, the commander in the state, giving them +the authority to kill all who resisted them. Swayne, however, sent out +detachments of troops and arrested fifteen of the ringleaders, and the League +government collapsed. + +After it was seen that existing political institutions were to be overturned +in the process of reconstruction, the white councils of the League and, to a +certain extent, the Negro councils were converted into training schools for +the leaders of the new party soon to be formed in the state by act of +Congress. The few whites who were in control were unwilling to admit more +white members to share in the division of the spoils; terms of admission +became more stringent, and, especially after the passage of the reconstruction +acts in March 1867, many white applicants were rejected. The alien element +from the North was in control and as a result, where the blacks were numerous, +the largest plums fell to the carpetbaggers. The Negro leaders--the +politicians, preachers, and teachers--trained in the League acted as +subordinates to the whites and were sent out to drum up the country Negroes +when elections drew near. The Negroes were given minor positions when offices +were more plentiful than carpetbaggers. Later, after some complaint, a larger +share of the offices fell to them. The League counted its largest white +membership in 1865-66, and after that date it steadily decreased. The largest +Negro membership was recorded in 1867 and 1868. The total membership was never +made known. In North Carolina the order claimed from seventy-five thousand to +one hundred and twenty-five thousand members; in states with larger Negro +populations the membership was probably quite as large. After the election of +1868, only the councils in the towns remained active, many of them transformed +into political clubs, loosely organized under local political leaders. The +plantation Negro needed less looking after, and except in the largest towns he +became a kind of visiting member of the council in the town. The League as a +political organization gradually died out by 1870.* + +* The Ku Klux Klan had much to do with the decline of the organization. The +League as the ally and successor of the Freedmen's Bureau was one of the +causes of the Ku Klux movement, because it helped to create the conditions +which made such a movement inevitable. As early as 1870 the radical leaders +missed the support formerly given by the League, and an urgent appeal was sent +out all over the South from headquarters in New York advocating its +reestablishment to assist in carrying the elections of 1870. + + +The League had served its purpose. It had enabled a few outsiders to control +the Negro by separating the races politically and it had compelled the Negroes +to vote as radicals for several years, when without its influence they would +either not have voted at all or would have voted as Democrats along with their +former masters. The order was necessary to the existence of the radical party +in the Black Belt. No ordinary political organization could have welded the +blacks into a solid party. The Freedmen's Bureau, which had much influence +over the Negroes, was too weak in numbers to control the Negroes in politics. +The League finally absorbed the personnel of the Bureau and turned its +prestige and its organization to political advantage. + + + +CHAPTER IX. CHURCH AND SCHOOL + +Reconstruction in the state was closely related to reconstruction in the +churches and the schools. Here also were to be found the same hostile +elements: Negro and white, Unionist and Confederate, victor and vanquished. +The church was at that time an important institution in the South, more so +than in the North, and in both sections more important than it is today. It +was inevitable, therefore, that ecclesiastical reconstruction should give rise +to bitter feelings. + +Something should be said of conditions in the churches when the Federal armies +occupied the land. The Southern organizations had lost many ministers and many +of their members, and frequently their buildings were used as hospitals or had +been destroyed. Their administration was disorganized and their treasuries +were empty. The Unionists, scattered here and there but numerous in the +mountain districts, no longer wished to attend the Southern churches. + +The military censorship in church matters, which continued for a year in some +districts, was irritating, especially in the Border States and in the Union +districts where Northern preachers installed by the army were endeavoring to +remain against the will of the people. Mobs sometimes drove them out; others +were left to preach to empty houses or to a few Unionists and officers, while +the congregation withdrew to build a new church. The problems of Negro +membership in the white churches and of the future relations of the Northern +and Southern denominations were pressing for settlement. + +All Northern organizations acted in 1865 upon the assumption that a reunion of +the churches must take place and that the divisions existing before the war +should not be continued, since slavery, the cause of the division, had been +destroyed. But they insisted that the reunion must take place upon terms named +by the "loyal" churches, that the Negroes must also come under "loyal" +religious direction, and that tests must be applied to the Confederate sinners +asking for admission, in order that the enormity of their crimes should be +made plain to them. But this policy did not succeed. The Confederates objected +to being treated as "rebels and traitors" and to "sitting upon stools of +repentance" before they should be received again into the fold. + +Only two denominations were reunited--the Methodist Protestant, the northern +section of which came over to the southern, and the Protestant Episcopal, in +which moderate counsels prevailed and into which Southerners were welcomed +back. The Southern Baptists maintained their separate existence and +reorganized the Southern Baptist Convention, to which came many of the Baptist +associations in the Border States; the Catholics did not divide before 1861 +and therefore had no reconstruction problems to solve; and the smaller +denominations maintained the organizations which they had before 1861. A +Unionist preacher testified before the Joint Committee on Reconstruction that +even the Southern Quakers "are about as decided in regard to the +respectability of secession as any other class of people." + +Two other great Southern churches, the Presbyterian and the Methodist +Episcopal, grew stronger after the Civil War. The tendency toward reunion of +the Presbyterians was checked when one Northern branch declared as "a +condition precedent to the admission of southern applicants that these confess +as sinful all opinions before held in regard to slavery, nullification, +rebellion and slavery, and stigmatize secession as a crime and the withdrawal +of the southern churches as a schism." Another Northern group declared that +southern ministers must be placed on probation and must either prove their +loyalty or profess repentance for disloyalty and repudiate their former +opinions. As a result several Presbyterian bodies in the South joined in a +strong union, to which also adhered the synods of several Border States. + +The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was confronted with conditions similar +to those which prevented the reunion of the Presbyterians. The Northern +church, according to the declaration of its authorities, also came down to +divide the spoils and to "disintegrate and absorb" the "schismatic" Southern +churches. Already many Southern pulpits were filled with Northern Methodist +ministers placed there under military protection; and when they finally +realized that reunion was not possible, these Methodist worthies resolved to +occupy the late Confederacy as a mission field and to organize congregations +of blacks and whites who were "not tainted with treason." Bishops and +clergymen charged with this work carried it on vigorously for a few years in +close connection with political reconstruction. + +The activities of the Northern Methodists stimulated the Southern Methodists +to a quick reorganization. The surviving bishops met in August 1865, and bound +together their shaken church. In reply to suggestions of reunion they asserted +that the Northern Methodists had become "incurably radical," were too much +involved in politics, and, further, that they had, without right, seized and +were still holding Southern church buildings. They objected also to the way +the Northern church referred to the Southerners as "schismatics" and to the +Southern church as one built on slavery and therefore, now that slavery was +gone, to be reconstructed. The bishops warned their people against the +missionary efforts of the Northern brethren and against the attempts to +"disintegrate and absorb" Methodism in the South. Within five years after the +war, the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was greatly increased in numbers +by the accession of conferences in Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, and +even from above the Ohio, while the Northern Methodist Church was able to +organize only a few white congregations outside of the stronger Unionist +districts, but continued to labor in the South as a missionary field.* + +*The church situation after the war was well described in 1866 by an editorial +writer in the "Nation" who pointed out that the Northern churches thought the +South determined to make the religious division permanent, though "slavery no +longer furnishes a pretext for separation." "Too much pains were taken to +bring about an ecclesiastical reunion, and irritating offers of reconciliation +are made by the Northern churches, all based on the assumption that the South +has not only sinned, but sinned knowingly, in slavery and in war. We expect +them to be penitent and to gladly accept our offers of forgiveness. But the +Southern people look upon a 'loyal' missionary as a political emissary, and +'loyal' men do not at present possess the necessary qualifications for +evangelizing the Southerners or softening their hearts, and are sure not to +succeed in doing so. We look upon their defeat as retribution and expect them +to do the same. It will do no good if we tell the Southerner that 'we will +forgive them if they will confess that they are criminals, offer to pray with +them, preach with them, and labor with them over their hideous sins.'" + + +But if the large Southern churches held their white membership and even gained +in numbers and territory, they fought a losing fight to retain their black +members. It was assumed by Northern ecclesiastics that whether a reunion of +whites took place or not, the Negroes would receive spiritual guidance from +the North. This was necessary, they said, because the Southern whites were +ignorant and impoverished and because "the state of mind among even the best +classes of Southern whites rendered them incapable . . . of doing justice to +the people whom they had so long persistently wronged." Further, it was also +necessary for political reasons to remove the Negroes from Southern religious +control. + +For obvious reasons, however, the Southern churches wanted to hold their Negro +members. They declared themselves in favor of Negro education and of better +organized religious work among the blacks, and made every sort of +accommodation to hold them. The Baptists organized separate congregations, +with white or black pastors as desired, and associations of black churches. In +1866 the Methodist General Conference authorized separate congregations, +quarterly conferences, annual conferences, even a separate jurisdiction, with +Negro preachers, presiding elders, and bishops--but all to no avail. Every, +Northern political, religious, or military agency in the South worked for +separation, and Negro preachers were not long in seeing the greater advantages +which they would have in independent churches. + +Much of the separate organization was accomplished in mutual good will, +particularly in the Baptist ranks. The Reverend I. T. Tichenor, a prominent +Baptist minister, has described the process as it took place in the First +Baptist Church in Montgomery. The church had nine hundred members, of whom six +hundred were black. The Negroes received a regular organization of their own +under the supervision of the white pastors. When a separation of the two +bodies was later deemed desirable, it was inaugurated by a conference of the +Negroes which passed a resolution couched in the kindliest terms, suggesting +the wisdom of the division, and asking the concurrence of the white church in +such action. The white church cordially approved the movement, and the two +bodies united in erecting a suitable house of worship for the Negroes. Until +the new church was completed, both congregations continued to occupy jointly +the old house of worship. The new house was paid for in large measure by the +white members of the church and by individuals in the community. As soon as it +was completed, the colored church moved into it with its pastor, board of +deacons, committees of all sorts, and the whole machinery of church life went +into action without a jar. Similar accommodations occurred in all the states +of the South. + +The Methodists lost the greater part of their Negro membership to two +organizations which came down from the North in 1865--the African Methodist +Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion. Large +numbers also went over to the Northern Methodist Church. After losing nearly +three hundred thousand members, the Southern Methodists came to the conclusion +that the remaining seventy-eight thousand Negroes would be more comfortable in +a separate organization and therefore began in 1866 the Colored Methodist +Episcopal Church, with bishops, conferences, and all the accompaniments of the +parent Methodist Church, which continued to give friendly aid but exercised no +control. For many years the Colored Methodist Church was under fire from the +other Negro denominations, who called it the "rebel," the "Democratic," the +"old slavery" church. + +The Negro members of the Cumberland Presbyterians were similarly set off into +a small African organization. The Southern Presbyterians and the Episcopalians +established separate congregations and missions under white supervision but +sanctioned no independent Negro organization. Consequently the Negroes soon +deserted these churches and went with their own kind. + +Resentment at the methods employed by the Northern religious carpetbaggers was +strong among the Southern whites. "Emissaries of Christ and the radical party" +they were called by one Alabama leader. Governor Lindsay of the same state +asserted that the Northern missionaries caused race hatred by teaching the +Negroes to regard the whites as their natural enemies, who, if possible, would +put them back in slavery. Others were charged with teaching that to be on the +safe side, the blacks should get into a Northern church, and that "Christ died +for Negroes and Yankees, not for rebels." + +The scalawags, also, developed a dislike of the Northern church work among the +Negroes, and it was impossible to organize mixed congregations. Of the +Reverend A. S. Lakin, a well-known agent of the Northern Methodist Church in +Alabama, Nicholas Davis, a North Alabama Unionist and scalawag, said to the Ku +Klux Committee: "The character of his [Lakin's] speech was this: to teach the +Negroes that every man that was born and raised in the Southern country was +their enemy, that there was no use trusting them, no matter what they said--if +they said they were for the Union or anything else. 'No use talking, they are +your enemies.' And he made a pretty good speech, too; awful; a hell of a one; +. . . inflammatory and game, too . . . . It was enough to provoke the devil. +Did all the mischief he could . . . I tell you, that old fellow is a hell of +an old rascal." + +For a time the white churches were annoyed by intrusions of strange blacks set +on by those who were bent on separating the races. Frequently there were feuds +in white or black congregations over the question of joining some Northern +body. Disputes over church property also arose and continued for years. Lakin, +referred to above, was charged with "stealing" Negro congregations and uniting +them with the Cincinnati Conference without their knowledge. The Negroes were +urged to demand title to all buildings formerly used for Negro worship, and +the Constitutional Convention of Alabama in 1867 directed that such property +must be turned over to them when claimed. + +The agents of the Northern churches were not greatly different from other +carpetbaggers and adventurers taking advantage of the general confusion to +seize a little power. Many were unscrupulous; others, sincere and honest but +narrow, bigoted, and intolerant, filled with distrust of the Southern whites +and with corresponding confidence in the blacks and in themselves. The +missionary and church publications were quite as severe on the Southern people +as any radical Congressman. The publications of the Freedmen's Aid Society +furnish illustrations of the feelings and views of those engaged in the +Southern work. They in turn were made to feel the effects of a merciless +social proscription. For this some of them cared not at all, while others or +their families felt it keenly. One woman missionary wrote that she was +delighted when a Southern white would speak to her. A preacher in Virginia +declared that "the females, those especially whose pride has been humbled, are +more intense in their bitterness and endeavor to keep up a social ostracism +against Union and Northern people." The Ku Klux raids were directed against +preachers and congregations whose conduct was disagreeable to the whites. +Lakin asserted that while he was conducting a great revival meeting among the +hills of northern Alabama, Governor Smith and other prominent and sinful +scalawag politicians were there "under conviction" and about to become +converted. But in came the Klan and the congregation scattered. + +Smith and the others were so angry and frightened that their good feelings +were dissipated, and the devil reentered them, so that Lakin said he was never +able to "get a hold on them" again. For the souls lost that night he held the +Klan responsible. Lakin told several marvelous stories of his hairbreadth +escapes from death by assassination which, if true, would be enough to ruin +the reputation of northern Alabama men for marksmanship. + +The reconstruction ended with conditions in the churches similar to those in +politics: the races were separated and unfriendly; Northern and Southern +church organizations were divided; and between them, especially in the border +and mountain districts, there existed factional quarrels of a political +origin, for every Northern Methodist was a Republican and every Southern +Methodist was a Democrat. + +The schools of the South, like the churches and political institutions, were +thrown into the melting pot of reconstruction. The spirit in which the work +was begun may be judged from the tone of the addresses made at a meeting of +the National Teachers Association in 1865. The president, S. S. Greene, +declared that "the old slave States are to be the new missionary ground for +the national school teacher." Francis Wayland, the former president of Brown +University, remarked that "it has been a war of education and patriotism +against ignorance and barbarism." President Hill of Harvard spoke of the "new +work of spreading knowledge and intellectual culture over the regions that sat +in darkness." Other speakers asserted that the leading Southern whites were as +much opposed to free schools as to free governments and "we must treat them as +western farmers do the stumps in their clearings, work around them and let +them rot out"; that the majority of the whites were more ignorant than the +slaves; and that the Negro must be educated and strengthened against "the +wiles, the guile, and hate of his baffled masters and their minions." The New +England Freedmen's Aid Society considered it necessary to educate the Negro +"as a counteracting influence against the evil councils and designs of the +white freemen." + +The tasks that confronted the Southern States in 1865-67 were two: first, to +restore the shattered school systems of the whites; and second, to arrange for +the education of the Negroes. Education of the Negro slave had been looked +upon as dangerous and had been generally forbidden. A small number of Negroes +could read and write, but there were at the close of the war no schools for +the children. Before 1861, each state had developed at least the outlines of a +school system. Though hindered in development by the sparseness of the +population and by the prevalence in some districts of the Virginia doctrine +that free schools were only for the poor, public schools were nevertheless in +existence in 1861. Academies and colleges, however, were thronged with +students. When the war ended, the public schools were disorganized, and the +private academies and the colleges were closed. Teachers and students had been +dispersed; buildings had been burned or used for hospitals and laboratories; +and public libraries had virtually disappeared. + +The colleges made efforts to open in the fall of 1865. Only one student +presented himself at the University of Alabama for matriculation; but before +June 1866, the stronger colleges were again in operation. The public or +semi-public schools for the whites also opened in the fall. In the cities +where Federal military authorities had brought about the employment of +Northern teachers, there was some friction. In New Orleans, for example, the +teachers required the children to sing Northern songs and patriotic airs. When +the Confederates were restored to power, these teachers were dismissed. + +The movement toward Negro education was general throughout the South. Among +the blacks themselves there was an intense desire to learn. They wished to +read the Bible, to be preachers, to be as the old master and not have to work. +Day and night and Sunday they crowded the schools. According to an observer,* +"not only are individuals seen at study, and under the most untoward +circumstances, but in very many places I have found what I will call 'native +schools,' often rude and very imperfect, but there they are, a group, perhaps, +of all ages, trying to learn. Some young man, some woman, or old preacher, in +cellar, or shed, or corner of a Negro meeting-house, with the alphabet in +hand, or a town spelling-book, is their teacher. All are full of enthusiasm +with the new knowledge the book is imparting to them." + +* J. W. Alvord, Superintendent of Schools for the Freedmen's Bureau, 1866. + + +Not only did the Negroes want schooling, but both the North and the South +proposed to give it to them. Neither side was actuated entirely by altruistic +motives. A Hampton Institute teacher in later days remarked: "When the combat +was over and the Yankee school-ma'am followed in the train of the northern +armies, the business of educating the Negroes was a continuation of +hostilities against the vanquished and was so regarded to a considerable +extent on both sides." + +The Southern churches, through their bishops and clergy, the newspapers, and +prominent individuals such as J. L. M. Curry, John B. Gordon, J. L. Orr, +Governors Brown, Moore, and Patton, came out in favor of Negro education. Of +this movement General Swayne said: "Quite early . . . . the several religious +denominations took strong ground in favor of the education of the freedmen. +The principal argument was an appeal to sectional and sectarian prejudice, +lest, the work being inevitable, the influence which must come from it be +realized by others; but it is believed that this was but the shield and weapon +which men of unselfish principle found necessary at first." The newspapers +took the attitude that the Southern whites should teach the Negroes because it +was their duty, because it was good policy, and because if they did not do so +some one else would. The "Advertiser" of Montgomery stated that education was +a danger in slavery times but that under freedom ignorance became a danger. +For a time there were numerous schools taught by crippled Confederates and by +Southern women. + +But the education of the Negro, like his religious training, was taken from +the control of the Southern white and was placed under the direction of the +Northern teachers and missionaries who swarmed into the country under the +fostering care of the Freedmen's Bureau, the Northern churches, and the +various Freedmen's Aid Societies. In three years the Bureau spent six million +dollars on Negro schools and everywhere it exercised supervision over them. +The teachers pursued a policy akin to that of the religious leaders. One +Southerner likened them to the "plagues of Egypt," another described them as +"saints, fools, incendiaries, fakirs, and plain business men and women." A +Southern woman remarked that "their spirit was often high and noble so far as +the black man's elevation was concerned, but toward the white it was bitter, +judicial, and unrelenting." The Northern teachers were charged with ignorance +of social conditions, with fraternizing with the blacks, and with teaching +them that the Southerners were traitors, "murderers of Lincoln," who had been +cruel taskmasters and who now wanted to restore servitude. + +The reaction against Negro education, which began to show itself before +reconstruction was inaugurated, found expression in the view of most whites +that "schooling ruins a Negro." A more intelligent opinion was that of J. L. +M. Curry, a lifelong advocate of Negro education: + +"It is not just to condemn the Negro for the education which he received in +the early years after the war. That was the period of reconstruction, the +saturnalia of misgovernment, the greatest possible hindrance to the progress +of the freedmen . . . . The education was unsettling, demoralizing, [and it] +pandered to a wild frenzy for schooling as a quick method of reversing social +and political conditions. Nothing could have been better devised for deluding +the poor Negro and making him the tool, the slave of corrupt taskmasters. +Education is a natural consequence of citizenship and enfranchisement . . . of +freedom and humanity. But with deliberate purpose to subject the Southern +States to Negro domination, and secure the States permanently for partisan +ends, the education adopted was contrary to commonsense, to human experience, +to all noble purposes. The curriculum was for a people in the highest degree +of civilization; the aptitude and capabilities and needs of the Negro were +wholly disregarded. Especial stress was laid on classics and liberal culture +to bring the race per saltum to the same plane with their former masters, and +realize the theory of social and political equality. A race more highly +civilized, with best heredities and environments, could not have been coddled +with more disregard of all the teachings of human history and the necessities +of the race. Colleges and universities, established and conducted by the +Freedmen's Bureau and Northern churches and societies, sprang up like +mushrooms, and the teachers, ignorant, fanatical, without self-poise, +proceeded to make all possible mischief. It is irrational, cruel, to hold the +Negro, under such strange conditions, responsible for all the ill consequences +of bad education, unwise teachers, reconstruction villainies, and partisan +schemes." + +* Quoted in "Proceedings of the Montgomery Conference on Race Problems" +(1900), p. 128. + + +Education was to be looked upon as a handmaid to a thorough reconstruction, +and its general character and aim were determined by the Northern teachers. +Each convention framed a more or less complicated school system and undertook +to provide for its support. The Negroes in the conventions were anxious for +free schools; the conservatives were willing; but the carpetbaggers and a few +mulatto leaders insisted in several States upon mixed schools. Only in +Louisiana and South Carolina did the constitutions actually forbid separate +schools; in Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas the question was left +open, to the embarrassment of the whites. Generally the blacks showed no +desire for mixed schools unless urged to it by the carpetbaggers. In the South +Carolina convention, a mulatto thus argued in favor of mixed schools: "The +gentleman from Newberry said he was afraid we were taking a wrong course to +remove these prejudices. The most natural method to effect this object would +be to allow children when five or six years of age to mingle in schools +together and associate generally. Under such training, prejudice must +eventually die out; but if we postpone it until they become men and women, +prejudice will be so established that no mortal can obliterate it. This, I +think, is a sufficient reply to the argument of the gentleman." + +The state systems were top-heavy with administrative machinery and were +officered by incompetent and corrupt officials. Such men as Cloud in Alabama, +Cardozo in Mississippi, Conway in Louisiana, and Jillson in South Carolina are +fair samples of them. Much of the personnel was taken over from the Bureau +teaching force. The school officials were no better than the other +officeholders. + +The first result of the attempt to use the schools as an instrument of +reconstruction ended in the ruin of several state universities. The faculties +of the Universities of North Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama were made +radical and the institutions thereupon declined to nothing. The Negroes, +unable to control the faculty of the University of South Carolina, forced +Negro students in and thus got possession. In Louisiana the radical +legislature cut off all funds because the university would not admit Negroes. +The establishment of the land grant colleges was an occasion for corruption +and embezzlement. + +The common schools were used for radical ends. The funds set aside for them by +the state constitutions or appropriated by the legislatures for these schools +seldom reached their destination without being lessened by embezzlement or by +plain stealing. Frequently the auditor, or the treasurer, or even the +legislature diverted the school funds to other purposes. Suffice it to say +that all of the reconstruction systems broke down financially after a brief +existence. + +The mixed school provisions in Louisiana and South Carolina and the +uncertainty of the educational situation in other States caused white children +to stay away from the public schools. For several years the Negroes were +better provided than the whites, having for themselves both all the public +schools and also those supported by private benevolence. In Mississippi, +Louisiana, and South Carolina the whites could get no money for schoolhouses, +while large sums were spent on Negro schools. The Peabody Board, then recently +inaugurated,* refused to cooperate with school officials in the mixed school +states and, when criticized, replied: "It is well known that we are helping +the white children of Louisiana as being the more destitute from the fact of +their unwillingness to attend mixed schools." + +* To administer the fund bequeathed by George Peabody of Massachusetts to +promote education in the Southern States. See "The New South", by Holland +Thompson (in "The Chronicles of America"). + + +As was to be expected, the whites criticized the attitude of the school +officials, disapproved of the attempts made in the schools to teach the +children radical ideas, and objected to the contents of the history texts and +the "Freedmen's Readers." A white school board in Mississippi, by advertising +for a Democratic teacher for a Negro school, drew the fire of a radical editor +who inquired: "What is the motive by which this call for a 'competent +Democratic teacher' is prompted? The most damning that has ever moved the +heart of man. It is to use the vote and action of a human being as a means by +which to enslave him. The treachery and villainy of these rebels stands +without parallel in the history of men." + +A Negro politician has left this account of a radical recitation in a Florida +Negro school: + +After finishing the arithmetic lesson they must next go through the catechism: + +"Who is the 'Publican Government of the State of Florida?" Answer: "Governor +Starns." + +"Who made him Governor?" Answer: "The colored people." + +"Who is trying to get him out of his seat?" Answer: "The Democrats, Conover, +and some white and black Liberal Republicans." + +"What should the colored people do with the men who is trying to get Governor +Starns out of his seat?" Answer: "They should kill them." . . . . + +This was done that the patrons, some of whom could not read, would be +impressed by the expressions of their children, and would be ready to put any +one to death who would come out into the country and say anything against +Governor Starns. + +The native white teachers soon dropped out of Negro schools, and those from +the North met with the same social persecution as the white church workers. +The White League and Ku Klux Klan drove off obnoxious teachers, whipped some, +burned Negro schoolhouses, and in various other ways manifested the reaction +which was rousing the whites against Negro schools. + +The several agencies working for Negro education gave some training to +hundreds of thousands of blacks, but the whites asserted that, like the church +work, it was based on a wrong spirit and resulted in evil as well as in good. +Free schools failed in reconstruction because of the dishonesty or +incompetence of the authorities and because of the unsettled race question. It +was not until the turn of the century that the white schools were again as +good as they had been before 1861. After the reconstruction native whites as +teachers of Negro schools were impossible in most places. The hostile feelings +of the whites resulted and still result in a limitation of Negro schools. The +best thing for Negro schools that came out of reconstruction was Armstrong's +Hampton Institute program, which, however, was quite opposed to the spirit of +reconstruction education. + + + +CHAPTER X. CARPETBAG AND NEGRO RULE + +The Southern States reconstructed by Congress were subject for periods of +varying length to governments designed by radical Northerners and imposed by +elements thrown to the surface in the upheaval of Southern society. Georgia, +Virginia, and North Carolina each had a brief experience with these +governments; other States escaped after four or five years, while Louisiana, +South Carolina, and Florida were not delivered from this domination until +1876. The states which contained large numbers of Negroes had, on the whole, +the worst experience. Here the officials were ignorant or corrupt, frauds upon +the public were the rule, not the exception, and all of the reconstruction +governments were so conducted that they could secure no support from the +respectable elements of the electorate. + +The fundamental cause of the failure of these governments was the character of +the new ruling class. Every state, except perhaps Virginia, was under the +control of a few able leaders from the North generally called carpetbaggers +and of a few native white radicals contemptuously designated scalawags. These +were kept in power by Negro voters, to some seven hundred thousand of whom the +ballot had been given by the reconstruction acts. The adoption of the +Fifteenth Amendment in March 1870, brought the total in the former slave +states to 931,000, with about seventy-five thousand more Negroes in the North. +The Negro voters were most numerous, comparatively, in Louisiana, Mississippi, +South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia. There were a few thousand carpetbaggers +in each State, with, at first, a much larger number of scalawags. The latter, +who were former Unionists, former Whigs, Confederate deserters, and a few +unscrupulous politicians, were most numerous in Virginia, North Carolina, +Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The better class, however, rapidly left the +radical party as the character of the new regime became evident, taking with +them whatever claims the party had to respectability, education, political +experience, and property. + +The conservatives, hopelessly reduced by the operation of disfranchising laws, +were at first not well organized, nor were they at any time as well led as in +antebellum days. In 1868, about one hundred thousand of them were forbidden to +vote and about two hundred thousand were disqualified from holding office. The +abstention policy of 1867-68 resulted in an almost complete withdrawal of the +influence of the conservatives for the two years, 1868-70. As a class they +were regarded by the dominant party in state and nation as dangerous and +untrustworthy and were persecuted in such irritating ways that many became +indifferent to the appeals of civil duty. They formed a solid but almost +despairing opposition in the black districts of Mississippi, Louisiana, +Alabama, and South Carolina. For the leaders the price of amnesty was +conversion to radicalism, but this price few would pay. + +The new state governments possessed certain characteristics in common. Since +only a small number of able men were available for office, full powers of +administration, including appointment and removal, were concentrated in the +hands of the governor. He exercised a wide control over public funds and had +authority to organize and command militia and constabulary and to call for +Federal troops. The numerous administrative boards worked with the sole object +of keeping their party in power. Officers were several times as numerous as +under the old regime, and all of them received higher salaries and larger +contingent fees. The moral support behind the government was that of President +Grant and the United States army, not that of a free and devoted people. + +Of the twenty men who served as governors, eight were scalawags and twelve +were carpetbaggers, men who were abler than the scalawags and who had much +more than an equal share of the spoils. The scalawags, such as Brownlow of +Tennessee, Smith of Alabama, and Holden of North Carolina, were usually honest +but narrow, vindictive men, filled with fear and hate of the conservative +whites. + +Of the carpetbaggers half were personally honest, but all were unscrupulous in +politics.' Some were flagrantly dishonest.* Governor Moses of South Carolina +was several times bribed and at one time, according to his own statement, +received $15,000 for his vote as speaker of the House of Representatives. +Governor Stearns of Florida was charged with stealing government supplies from +the Negroes; and it was notorious that Warmoth and Kellogg of Louisiana, each +of whom served only one term, retired with large fortunes. Warmoth, indeed, +went so far as to declare: "Corruption is the fashion. I do not pretend to be +honest, but only as honest as anybody in politics." + +The judiciary was no better than the executive. The chief justice of Louisiana +was convicted of fraud. A supreme court judge of South Carolina offered his +decisions for sale, and Whipper and Moses, both notorious thieves, were +elected judges by the South Carolina Legislature. In Alabama there were many +illiterate magistrates, among them the city judge of Selma, who in April 1865, +was still living as a slave. Governor Chamberlain, a radical, asserted that +there were two hundred trial judges in South Carolina who could not read. + +Other officers were of the same stripe. Leslie, a South Carolina carpetbagger, +declared that "South Carolina has no right to be a state unless she can +support her statesmen," and he proceeded to live up to this principle. The +manager of the state railroad of Georgia, when asked how he had been able to +accumulate twenty or thirty thousand dollars on a two or three thousand dollar +salary, replied, "By the exercise of the most rigid economy." A North Carolina +Negro legislator was found on one occasion chuckling as he counted some money. +"What are you laughing at, Uncle?" he was asked. "Well, boss, I'se been sold +'leben times in my life and dis is de fust time I eber got de money." Godkin, +in the "Nation", said that the Georgia officials were "probably as bad a lot +of political tricksters and adventurers as ever got together in one place." +This description will fit equally well the white officials of all the +reconstructed states. Many of the Negroes who attained public office showed +themselves apt pupils of their carpetbag masters but were seldom permitted to +appropriate a large share of the plunder. In Florida the Negro members of the +legislature, thinking that they should have a part of the bribe and loot money +which their carpetbag masters were said to be receiving, went so far as to +appoint what was known as a "smelling committee" to locate the good things and +secure a share. + +From 1868 to 1870, the legislatures of seven states were overwhelmingly +radical and in several the radical majority held control for four, six, or +eight years. Negroes were most numerous in the legislatures of Louisiana, +South Carolina, and Mississippi, and everywhere the votes of these men were +for sale. In Alabama and Louisiana, Negro legislators had a fixed price for +their votes: for example, six hundred dollars would buy a senator in +Louisiana. In South Carolina, Negro government appeared at its worst. A vivid +description of the Legislature of this State in which the Negroes largely +outnumbered the whites is given by James S. Pike, a Republican journalist*: + +*Pike, "The Prostrate State", pp. 12 ff. + + +"In the place of this old aristocratic society stands the rude form of the +most ignorant democracy that mankind ever saw, invested with the functions of +government. It is the dregs of the population habilitated in the robes of +their intelligent predecessors, and asserting over them the rule of ignorance +and corruption . . . . It is barbarism overwhelming civilization by physical +force. It is the slave rioting in the halls of his master, and putting that +master under his feet. And, though it is done without malice and without +vengeance, it is nevertheless none the less completely and absolutely done. . +. . We will enter the House of Representatives. Here sit one hundred and +twenty-four members. Of these, twenty-three are white men, representing the +remains of the old civilization. These are good-looking, substantial citizens. +They are men of weight and standing in the communities they represent. They +are all from the hill country. The frosts of sixty and seventy winters whiten +the heads of some among them. There they sit, grim and silent. They feel +themselves to be but loose stones, thrown in to partially obstruct a current +they are powerless to resist . . . . + +"This dense Negro crowd . . . do the debating, the squabbling, the lawmaking, +and create all the clamor and disorder of the body. These twenty-three white +men are but the observers, the enforced auditors of the dull and clumsy +imitation of a deliberative body, whose appearance in their present capacity +is at once a wonder and a shame to modern civilization .... The Speaker is +black, the Clerk is black, the doorkeepers are black, the little pages are +black, the chairman of the Ways and Means is black, and the chaplain is coal +black. At some of the desks sit colored men whose types it would be hard to +find outside of Congo; whose costumes, visages, attitudes, and expression, +only befit the forecastle of a buccaneer. It must be remembered, also, that +these men, with not more than a half dozen exceptions, have been themselves +slaves, and that their ancestors were slaves for generations. . . + +"But the old stagers admit that the colored brethren have a wonderful aptness +at legislative proceedings. They are "quick as lightning" at detecting points +of order, and they certainly make incessant and extraordinary use of their +knowledge. No one is allowed to talk five minutes without interruption, and +one interruption is a signal for another and another, until the original +speaker is smothered under an avalanche of them. Forty questions of privilege +will be raised in a day. At times, nothing goes on but alternating questions +of order and of privilege. The inefficient colored friend who sits in the +Speaker's chair cannot suppress this extraordinary element of the debate. Some +of the blackest members exhibit a pertinacity of intrusion in raising these +points of order and questions of privilege that few white men can equal. Their +struggles to get the floor, their bellowings and physical contortions, baffle +description. + +"The Speaker's hammer plays a perpetual tattoo to no purpose. The talking and +the interruptions from all quarters go on with the utmost license. Everyone +esteems himself as good as his neighbor, and puts in his oar, apparently as +often for love of riot and confusion as for anything else . . . . The Speaker +orders a member whom he has discovered to be particularly unruly to take his +seat. The member obeys, and with the same motion that he sits down, throws his +feet on to his desk, hiding himself from the Speaker by the soles of his boots +. . . . After a few experiences of this sort, the Speaker threatens, in a +laugh, to call the "gemman" to order. This is considered a capital joke, and a +guffaw follows. The laugh goes round and then the peanuts are cracked and +munched faster than ever; one hand being employed in fortifying the inner man +with this nutriment of universal use, while the other enforces the views of +the orator. This laughing propensity of the sable crowd is a great cause of +disorder. They laugh as hens cackle--one begins and all follow. + +"But underneath all this shocking burlesque upon legislative proceedings, we +must not forget that there is something very real to this uncouth and +untutored multitude. It is not all sham, nor all burlesque. They have a +genuine interest and a genuine earnestness in the business of the assembly +which we are bound to recognize and respect . . . . They have an earnest +purpose, born of conviction that their position and condition are not fully +assured, which lends a sort of dignity to their proceedings. The barbarous, +animated jargon in which they so often indulge is on occasion seen to be so +transparently sincere and weighty in their own minds that sympathy supplants +disgust. The whole thing is a wonderful novelty to them as well as to +observers. Seven years ago these men were raising corn and cotton under the +whip of the overseer. Today they are raising points of order and questions of +privilege. They find they can raise one as well as the other. They prefer the +latter. It is easier and better paid. Then, it is the evidence of an +accomplished result. It means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means +liberty. It means the destruction of prison-walls only too real to them. It is +the sunshine of their lives. It is their day of jubilee. It is their +long-promised vision of the Lord God Almighty." + +The congressional delegations were as radical as the state governments. During +the first two years, there were no Democratic senators from the reconstructed +states and only two Democratic representatives, as against sixty-four radical +senators and representatives. At the end of four years, the Democrats numbered +fifteen against seventy radicals. A Negro succeeded Jefferson Davis in the +Senate, and in all the race sent two senators and thirteen representatives to +Congress; but though several were of high character and fair ability, they +exercised practically no influence. The Southern delegations had no part in +shaping policies but merely voted as they were told by the radical leaders. + +The effect of dishonest government was soon seen in extravagant expenditures, +heavier taxes, increase of the bonded debt, and depression of property values. +It was to be expected that after the ruin wrought by war and the admission of +the Negro to civil rights, the expenses of government would be greater. But +only lack of honesty will account for the extraordinary expenses of the +reconstruction governments. In Alabama and Florida, the running expenses of +the state government increased two hundred percent, in Louisiana five hundred +percent, and in Arkansas fifteen hundred percent--all this in addition to bond +issues. In South Carolina the one item of public printing, which from 1790 to +1868 cost $609,000, amounted in the years 1868-1876 to $1,326,589. + +Corrupt state officials had two ways of getting money--by taxation and by the +sale of bonds. Taxes were everywhere multiplied. The state tax rate in Alabama +was increased four hundred percent, in Louisiana eight hundred percent, and in +Mississippi, which could issue no bonds, fourteen hundred percent. City and +county taxes, where carpetbaggers were in control, increased in the same way. +Thousands of small proprietors could not meet their taxes, and in Mississippi +alone the land sold for unpaid taxes amounted to six million acres, an area as +large as Massachusetts and Rhode Island together. Nordhoff* speaks of seeing +Louisiana newspapers of which three-fourths were taken up by notices of tax +sales. In protest against extravagant and corrupt expenditures, taxpayers' +conventions were held in every state, but without effect. + +*Charles Nordhoff, "The Cotton States in the Spring and Summer of 1875". + + +Even the increased taxation, however, did not produce enough to support the +new governments, which now had recourse to the sale of state and local bonds. +In this way Governor Holden's Administration managed in two years to increase +the public debt of North Carolina from $16,000,000 to $32,000,000. The state +debt of South Carolina rose from $7,000,000 to $29,000,000 in 1873. In +Alabama, by 1874, the debt had mounted from $7,000,000 to $32,000,000. The +public debt of Louisiana rose from $14,000,000 in 1868 to $48,000,000 in 1871, +with a local debt of $31,000,000. Cities, towns, and counties sold bonds by +the bale. The debt of New Orleans increased twenty-five fold and that of +Vicksburg a thousandfold. A great deal of the debt was the result of +fraudulent issues of bonds or over-issue. For this form of fraud, the state +financial agents in New York were usually responsible. Southern bonds sold far +below par, and the time came when they were peddled about at ten to +twenty-five cents on the dollar. + +Still another disastrous result followed this corrupt financiering. In Alabama +there was a sixty-five percent decrease in property values, in Florida +forty-five percent, and in Louisiana fifty to seventy-five percent. A large +part of the best property was mortgaged, and foreclosure sales were frequent. +Poorer property could be neither mortgaged nor sold. There was an exodus of +whites from the worst governed districts in the West and the North. Many +towns, among them Mobile and Memphis, surrendered their charters and were +ruled directly by the governor; and there were numerous "strangulated" +counties which on account of debt had lost self-government and were ruled by +appointees of the governor. + +A part of the money raised by taxes and by bond sales was used for legitimate +expenses and the rest went to pay forged warrants, excess warrants, and +swollen mileage accounts, and to fill the pockets of embezzlers and thieves +from one end of the South to the other. In Arkansas, for example, the +auditor's clerk hire, which was $4000 in 1866, cost twenty-three times as much +in 1873. In Louisiana and South Carolina, stealing was elevated into an art +and was practiced without concealment. In the latter state, the worthless Hell +Hole Swamp was bought for $26,000 to be farmed by the Negroes but was charged +to the state at $120,000. A free restaurant maintained at the Capitol for the +legislators cost $125,000 for one session. The porter who conducted it said +that he kept it open sixteen to twenty hours a day and that someone was always +in the room eating and drinking or smoking. When a member left, he would fill +his pockets with cigars or with bottles of drink. Forty different brands of +beverages were paid for by the state for the private use of members, and all +sorts of food, furniture, and clothing were sent to the houses of members and +were paid for by the state as "legislative supplies." On the bills appeared +such items as imported mushrooms, one side of bacon, one feather bed, bustles, +two pairs of extra long stockings, one pair of garters, one bottle perfume, +twelve monogram cut glasses, one horse, one comb and brush, three gallons of +whisky, one pair of corsets. During the recess, supplies were sent out to the +rural homes of the members. + +The endorsement of railroad securities by the state also furnished a source of +easy money to the dishonest official and the crooked speculator. After the +Civil War, in response to the general desire in the South for better railroad +facilities, the "Johnson" governments began to underwrite railroad bonds. When +the carpetbag and Negro governments came in, the policy was continued but +without proper safeguards. Bonds were sometimes endorsed before the roads were +constructed, and even excess issues were authorized. Bonds were endorsed for +some roads of which not a mile was ever built. The White River Valley and +Texas Railroad never came into existence, but it obtained a grant of $175,000 +from the State of Arkansas. Speaker Carter of the Louisiana Legislature +received a financial interest in all railroad endorsement bills which he +steered through the House. Negro members were regularly bribed to vote for the +bond steals. A witness swore that in Louisiana it cost him $80,000 to get a +railroad charter passed, but that the Governor's signature cost more than the +consent of the legislature. + +When the roads defaulted on the payment of interest, as most of them did, the +burden fell upon the state. Not all of the blame for this perverted +legislation should be placed upon the corrupt legislators, however, for the +lawyers who saw the bills through were frequently Southern Democrats +representing supposedly respectable Northern capitalists. The railroads as +well as the taxpayers suffered from this pernicious lobbying, for the +companies were loaded with debts and rarely profited by the loans. Valuation +of railroad property rapidly decreased. The roads of Alabama which were valued +in 1871 at $26,000,000 had decreased in 1875 to $9,500,000. + +The foundation of radical power in the South lay in the alienation of the +races which had been accomplished between 1865 and 1868. To maintain this +unhappy distrust, the radical leaders found an effective means in the Negro +militia. Under the constitution of every reconstructed state, a Negro +constabulary was possible, but only in South Carolina, North Carolina, +Louisiana, and Mississippi were the authorities willing to risk the dangers of +arming the blacks. No governor dared permit the Southern whites to organize as +militia. In South Carolina the carpetbag governor, Robert K. Scott, enrolled +ninety-six thousand Negroes as members of the militia and organized and armed +twenty thousand of them. The few white companies were ordered to disband. In +Louisiana the governor had a standing army of blacks called the Metropolitan +Guard. In several states the Negro militia was used as a constabulary and was +sent to any part of the state to make arrests. + +In spite of this provocation there were, after the riots of 1866-67, +comparatively few race conflicts until reconstruction was drawing to a close. +The intervening period was filled with the more peaceful activities of the Ku +Klux Klan and the White Camellia. But as the whites made up their minds to get +rid of Negro rule, the clashes came frequently and always ended in the death +of more Negroes than whites.* They would probably have continued with serious +consequences if the whites had not eventually secured control of the +government. + +* Among the bloodiest conflicts were those in Louisiana at Colfax, Coushatta, +and New Orleans in 1873-74, and at Vicksburg and Clinton, Mississippi, in +1874-75. + + +The lax election laws, framed indeed for the benefit of the party in power, +gave the radicals ample opportunity to control the Negro vote. The elections +were frequently corrupt, though not a great deal of money was spent in +bribery. It was found less expensive to use other methods of getting out the +vote. The Negroes were generally made to understand that the Democrats wanted +to put them back into slavery, but sometimes the leaders deemed it wiser to +state more concretely that "Jeff Davis had come to Montgomery and is ready to +organize the Confederacy again" if the Democrats should win; or to say that +"if Carter is elected, he will not allow your wives and daughters to wear +hoopskirts." In Alabama many thousand pounds of bacon and hams were sent in to +be distributed among "flood sufferers" in a region which had not been flooded +since the days of Noah. The Negroes were told that they must vote right and +receive enough bacon for a year, or "lose their rights" if they voted wrongly. +Ballot-box stuffing developed into an art, and each Negro was carefully +inspected to see that he had the right kind of ticket before he was marched to +the polls. + +The inspection and counting of election returns were in the hands of the +county and state boards, which were controlled by the governor, and which had +authority to throw out or count in any number of votes. On the assumption that +the radicals were entitled to all Negro votes, the returning boards followed +the census figures for the black population in order to arrive at the minimum +radical vote. The action of the returning boards was specially flagrant in +Louisiana and Florida and in the black counties of South Carolina. + +Notwithstanding the fact that the very best arrangements had been made at +Washington and in the states for the running of the radical machine, +everywhere there were factional fights from the beginning. Usually the +scalawags declared hostilities after they found that the carpetbaggers had +control of the Negroes and the inside track on the way to the best state and +federal offices. Later, after the scalawags had for the most part left the +radicals, there were contests among the carpetbaggers themselves for the +control of the Negro vote and the distribution of spoils. The defeated faction +usually joined the Democrats. In Arkansas a split started in 1869 which by +1872 resulted in two state governments. Alabama in 1872 and Louisiana in +1874-75 each had two rival governments. This factionalism contributed largely +to the overthrow of the radicals. + +The radical structure, however, was still powerfully supported from without. +Relations between the Federal Government and the state governments in the +South were close, and the policy at Washington was frequently determined by +conditions in the South. President Grant, though at first considerate, was +usually consistently radical in his Southern policy. This attitude is +difficult to explain except by saying that Grant fell under the control of +radical advisers after his break with Johnson, that his military instincts +were offended by opposition in the South which his advisers told him was +rebellious, and that he was impressed by the need of holding the Southern +radical vote against the inroads of the Democrats. After about 1869, Grant +never really understood the conditions in the South. He was content to control +by means of Federal troops and thousands of deputy marshals. For this policy +the Ku Klux activities gave sufficient excuse for a time, and the continued +story of "rebel outrages" was always available to justify a call for soldiers +or deputies. The enforcement legislation gave the color of law to any +interference which was deemed necessary. + +Federal troops served other ends than the mere preservation of order and the +support of the radical state governments. They were used on occasion to decide +between opposing factions and to oust conservatives who had forced their way +into office. The army officers purged the Legislature of Georgia in 1870, that +of Alabama in 1872, and that of Louisiana in 1875. In 1875 the city government +of Vicksburg and the state government of Louisiana were overturned by the +whites, but General Sheridan at once intervened to put back the Negroes and +carpetbaggers. He suggested to President Grant that the conservatives be +declared "banditti" and he would make himself responsible for the rest. As +soon as a State showed signs of going over to the Democrats or an important +election was lost by the radicals, one House or the other of Congress in many +instances sent an investigation committee to ascertain the reasons. The +Committees on the Condition of the South or on the Late Insurrectionary States +were nearly always ready with reports to establish the necessity of +intervention. + +Besides the army there was in every state a powerful group of Federal +officials who formed a "ring" for the direction of all good radicals. These +marshals, deputies, postmasters, district attorneys, and customhouse officials +were in close touch with Washington and frequently dictated nominations and +platforms. At New Orleans the officials acted as a committee on credentials +and held all the state conventions under their control in the customhouse. + +Such was the machinery used to sustain a party which, with the gradual +defection of the whites, became throughout the South almost uniformly black. +At first few Negroes asked for offices, but soon the carpetbaggers found it +necessary to divide with the rapidly growing number of Negro politicians. No +Negro was elected governor, though several reached the office of lieutenant +governor, secretary of state, auditor, superintendent of education, justice of +the state supreme court, and fifteen were elected to Congress.* It would not +be correct to say that the Negro race was malicious or on evil bent. Unless +deliberately stirred up by white leaders, few Negroes showed signs of mean +spirit. Few even made exorbitant demands. They wanted "something"--schools and +freedom and "something else," they knew not what. Deprived of the leadership +of the best whites, they could not possibly act with the scalawags--their +traditional enemies. Nothing was left for them but to follow the carpetbagger. + +* Revels, Lynch, and Bruce represent the better Negro officeholders; +Pinchback, Rainey, and Nash, the less respectable ones; and below these were +the rascals whose ambition was to equal their white preceptors in corruption. + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE KU KLUX MOVEMENT + +The Ku Klux movement, which took the form of secret revolutionary societies, +grew out of a general conviction among the whites that the reconstruction +policies were impossible and not to be endured. Somers, an English traveler, +says that at this time "nearly every respectable white man in the Southern +States was not only disfranchised but under fear of arrest or confiscation; +the old foundations of authority were utterly razed before any new ones had +yet been laid, and in the dark and benighted interval the remains of the +Confederate armies--swept after a long and heroic day of fair fight from the +field--flitted before the eyes of the people in this weird and midnight shape +of a Ku Klux Klan." Ryland Randolph, an Alabama editor who was also an +official of the Klan, stated in his paper that "the origin of Ku Klux Klan is +in the galling despotism that broods like a nightmare over these Southern +States--a fungus growth of military tyranny superinduced by the fostering of +Loyal Leagues, the abrogation of our civil laws, the habitual violation of our +national Constitution, and a persistent prostitution of all government, all +resources and all powers, to degrade the white man by the establishment of +Negro supremacy." + +The secret orders, regardless of their original purposes, were all finally to +be found opposing radical reconstruction. Everywhere their objects were the +same: to recover for the white race their former control of society and +government, and to destroy the baneful influence of the alien among the +blacks. The people of the South were by law helpless to take steps towards +setting up any kind of government in a land infested by a vicious +element--Federal and Confederate deserters, bushwhackers, outlaws of every +description, and Negroes, some of whom proved insolent and violent in their +newly found freedom. Nowhere was property or person safe, and for a time many +feared a Negro insurrection. General Hardee said to his neighbors, "I advise +you to get ready for what may come. We are standing over a sleeping volcano." + +To cope with this situation ante-bellum patrols--the "patter-rollers" as the +Negroes called them--were often secretly reorganized. In each community for +several months after the Civil War, and in many of them for months before the +end of the war, there were informal vigilance committees. Some of these had +such names as the Black Cavalry and Men of Justice in Alabama, the Home Guards +in many other places, while the anti Confederate societies of the war, the +Heroes of America, the Red Strings, and the Peace Societies, transformed +themselves in certain localities into regulatory bodies. Later these secret +societies numbered scores, perhaps hundreds, varying from small bodies of +local police to great federated bodies which covered almost the entire South +and even had membership in the North and West. Other important organizations +were the Constitutional Union Guards, the Pale Faces, the White Brotherhood, +the Council of Safety, the '76 Association, the Sons of '76, the Order of the +White Rose, and the White Boys. As the fight against reconstruction became +bolder, the orders threw off their disguises and appeared openly as armed +whites fighting for the control of society. The White League of Louisiana, the +White Line of Mississippi, the White Man's party of Alabama, and the Rifle +Clubs of South Carolina, were later manifestations of the general Ku Klux +movement. + +The two largest secret orders, however, were the Ku Klux Klan, from which the +movement took its name, and the Knights of the White Camelia. The Ku Klux Klan +originated at Pulaski, Tennessee, in the autumn of 1865, as a local +organization for social purposes. The founders were young Confederates, united +for fun and mischief. The name was an accidental corruption of the Greek word +Kuklos, a circle. The officers adopted queer sounding titles and strange +disguises. Weird nightriders in ghostly attire thoroughly frightened the +superstitious Negroes, who were told that the spirits of dead Confederates +were abroad. This terrorizing of the blacks successfully provided the +amusement which the founders desired, and there were many applications for +admission to the society. The Pulaski Club, or Den, was in the habit of +parading in full uniform at social gatherings of the whites at night, much to +the delight of the small boys and girls. Pulaski was near the Alabama line, +and many of the young men of Alabama who saw these parades or heard of them +organized similar Dens in the towns of Northern Alabama. Nothing but +horseplay, however, took place at the meetings. In 1867 and 1868, the order +appeared in parade in the towns of the adjoining states and, as we are told, +"cut up curious gyrations" on the public squares. + +There was a general belief outside the order that there was a purpose behind +all the ceremonial and frolic of the Dens; many joined the order convinced +that its object was serious; others saw the possibilities of using it as a +means of terrorizing the Negroes. After men discovered the power of the Klan +over the Negroes, indeed, they were generally inclined, owing to the +disordered conditions of the time, to act as a sort of police patrol and to +hold in check the thieving Negroes, the Union League, and the "loyalists." In +this way, from being merely a number of social clubs the Dens swiftly became +bands of regulators, taking on many new fantastic qualities along with their +new seriousness of purpose. Some of the more ardent spirits led the Dens far +in the direction of violence and outrage. Attempts were made by the parent Den +at Pulaski to regulate the conduct of the others, but, owing to the loose +organization, the effort met with little success. Some of the Dens, indeed, +lost all connection with the original order. + +A general organization of these societies was perfected at a convention held +in Nashville in May 1867, just as the Reconstruction Acts were being put into +operation. A constitution called the Prescript was adopted which provided for +a national organization. The former slave states, except Delaware, constituted +the Empire, which was ruled by the Grand Wizard (then General Forrest) with a +staff of ten Genii; each State was a realm under a Grand Dragon and eight +Hydras; the next subdivision was a Dominion, consisting of several counties, +ruled by a Grand Titan and six Furies; the county or Province was governed by +a Grand Giant and four Goblins; the unit was the Den or community +organization, of which there might be several in each county, each under a +Grand Cyclops and two Nighthawks. The Genii, Hydras, Furies, Goblins, and +Nighthawks were staff officers. The private members were called Ghouls. The +order had no name, and at first was designated by two stars (**), later by +three (***). Sometimes it was called the Invisible Empire of Ku Klux Klan. + +Any white man over eighteen might be admitted to the Den after nomination by a +member and strict investigation by a committee. The oath demanded obedience +and secrecy. The Dens governed themselves by the ordinary rules of +deliberative bodies. The punishment for betrayal of secrecy was "the extreme +penalty of the Law." None of the secrets was to be written, and there was a +"Register" of alarming adjectives, such as terrible, horrible, furious, +doleful, bloody, appalling, frightful, gloomy, which was used as a cipher code +in dating the odd Ku Klux orders. + +The general objects of the order were thus set forth in the revised Prescript: +first, to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless from the +indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal; +to relieve the injured and oppressed; to succor the suffering and unfortunate, +and especially the widows and orphans of Confederate soldiers; second, to +protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and all laws passed +in conformity thereto, and to protect the States and people thereof from all +invasion from any source whatever; third, to aid and assist in the execution +of all "constitutional" laws, and to protect the people from unlawful arrest, +and from trial except by their peers according to the laws of the land. But +the tests for admission gave further indication of the objects of the order. +No Republican, no Union Leaguer, and no member of the G. A. R. might become a +member. The members were pledged to oppose Negro equality of any kind, to +favor emancipation of the Southern whites and the restoration of their rights, +and to maintain constitutional government and equitable laws. + +Prominent men testified that the order became popular because the whites felt +that they were persecuted and that there was no legal protection, no +respectable government. General (later Senator) Pettus said that through all +the workings of the Federal Government ran the principle that "we are an +inferior, degraded people and not fit to be trusted." General Clanton of +Alabama further explained that "there is not a respectable white woman in the +Negro Belt of Alabama who will trust herself outside of her house without some +protector . . . . So far as our State Government is concerned, we are in the +hands of camp-followers, horse-holders, cooks, bottle-washers, and thieves . . +. . We have passed out from the hands of the brave soldiers who overcame us, +and are turned over to the tender mercies of squaws for torture. . . . I see +Negro police--great black fellows--leading white girls around the streets of +Montgomery, and locking them up in jails." + +The Klan first came into general prominence in 1868 with the report of the +Federal commanders in the South concerning its activities. Soon after that +date the order spread through the white counties of the South, in many places +absorbing the White Brotherhood, the Pale Faces, and some other local +organizations which had been formed in the upper part of the Black Belt. But +it was not alone in the field. The order known as the Knights of the White +Camelia, founded in Louisiana in 1867 and formally organized in 1868, spread +rapidly over the lower South until it reached the territory occupied by the Ku +Klux Klan. It was mainly a Black Belt order, and on the whole had a more +substantial and more conservative membership than the other large secret +bodies. Like the Ku Klux Klan, it also absorbed several minor local societies. + +The White Camelia had a national organization with headquarters in New +Orleans. Its business was conducted by a Supreme Council of the United States, +with Grand, Central, and Subordinate Councils for each state, county, and +community. All communication within the order took place by passwords and +cipher; the organization and the officers were similar to those of the Ku Klux +Klan; and all officers were designated by initials. An ex-member states that +"during the three years of its existence here [Perry County, Alabama] I +believe its organization and discipline were as perfect as human ingenuity +could have made it." The fundamental object of the White Camelia was the +"maintenance of the supremacy of the white race," and to this end the members +were constrained "to observe a marked distinction between the races" and to +restrain the "African race to that condition of social and political +inferiority for which God has destined it." The members were pledged to vote +only for whites, to oppose Negro equality in all things, but to respect the +legitimate rights of Negroes. + +The smaller orders were similar in purpose and organization to the Ku Klux +Klan and the White Camelia. Most of them joined or were affiliated with the +large societies. Probably a majority of the men of the South were associated +at some time during this period with these revolutionary bodies. As a rule the +politicians, though approving, held aloof. Public opinion generally supported +the movement so long as the radicals made serious attempts to carry out the +reconstruction policies. + +The task before the secret orders was to regulate the conduct of the blacks +and their leaders in order that honor, life, and property might be secure. +They planned to accomplish this aim by playing upon the fears, superstitions, +and cowardice of the black race--in a word, by creating a white terror to +counteract the black one. To this end they made use of strange disguises, +mysterious and fearful conversation, midnight rides and drills, and silent +parades. As long as secrecy and mystery were to be effective in dealing with +the Negroes, costume was an important matter. These disguises varied with the +locality and often with the individual. High cardboard hats, covered with +white cloth often decorated with stars or pictures of animals, white masks +with holes cut for eyes, nose and mouth bound with red braid to give a +horrible appearance, and frequently a long tongue of red flannel so fixed that +it could be moved with the wearer's tongue, and a long white robe--these made +up a costume which served at the same time as a disguise and as a means of +impressing the impressionable Negro. Horses were covered with sheets or white +cloth held on by the saddle and by belts, and sometimes the animals were even +painted. Skulls of sheep and cattle, and even of human beings were often +carried on the saddlebows to add another element of terror. A framework was +sometimes made to fit the shoulders of a Ghoul which caused him to appear +twelve feet high. A skeleton wooden hand at the end of a stick served to greet +terrified Negroes at midnight. For safety every man carried a small whistle +and a brace of pistols. + +The trembling Negro who ran into a gathering of the Ku Klux on his return from +a Loyal League meeting was informed that the white-robed figures he saw were +the spirits of the Confederate dead killed at Chickamauga or Shiloh, now +unable to rest in their graves because of the conduct of the Negroes. He was +told in a sepulchral voice of the necessity for his remaining more at home and +taking a less active part in predatory excursions abroad. In the middle of the +night, a sleeping Negro might wake to find his house surrounded by a ghostly +company, or to see several terrifying figures standing by his bedside. They +were, they said, the ghosts of men whom he had formerly known. They had +scratched through from Hell to warn the Negroes of the consequences of their +misconduct. Hell was a dry and thirsty land; and they asked him for water. +Bucket after bucket of water disappeared into a sack of leather, rawhide, or +rubber, concealed within the flowing robe. The story is told of one of these +night travelers who called at the cabin of a radical Negro in Attakapas +County, Louisiana. After drinking three buckets of water to the great +astonishment of the darky, the traveler thanked him and told him that he had +traveled nearly a thousand miles within twenty-four hours, and that that was +the best water he had tasted since he was killed at the battle of Shiloh. The +Negro dropped the bucket, overturned chairs and table in making his escape +through the window, and was never again seen or heard of by residents of that +community. Another incident is told of a parade in Pulaski, Tennessee: "While +the procession was passing a corner on which a Negro man was standing, a tall +horseman in hideous garb turned aside from the line, dismounted and stretched +out his bridle rein toward the Negro, as if he desired him to hold his horse. +Not daring to refuse, the frightened African extended his hand to grasp the +rein. As he did so, the Ku Klux took his own head from his shoulders and +offered to place that also in the outstretched hand. The Negro stood not upon +the order of his going, but departed with a yell of terror. To this day he +will tell you: 'He done it, suah, boss. I seed him do it.'" + +It was seldom necessary at this early stage to use violence, for the black +population was in an ecstasy of fear. A silent host of white-sheeted horsemen +parading the country roads at night was sufficient to reduce the blacks to +good behavior for weeks or months. One silent Ghoul posted near a meeting +place of the League would be the cause of the immediate dissolution of that +club. Cow bones in a sack were rattled within earshot of the terrified +Negroes. A horrible being, fifteen feet tall, walking through the night toward +a place of congregation, was very likely to find that every one had vacated +the place before he arrived. A few figures wrapped in sheets and sitting on +tombstones in a graveyard near which Negroes were accustomed to pass would +serve to keep the immediate community quiet for weeks and give the locality a +reputation for "hants" which lasted long. + +To prevent detection on parade, members of the Klan often stayed out of the +parade in their own town and were to be seen freely and conspicuously mingling +with the spectators. A man who believed that he knew every horse in the +vicinity and was sure that he would be able to identify the riders by their +horses was greatly surprised upon lifting the disguise of the horse nearest +him to find the animal upon which he himself had ridden into town a short +while before. The parades were always silent and so arranged as to give the +impression of very large numbers. In the regular drills which were held in +town and country, the men showed that they had not forgotten their training in +the Confederate army. There were no commands save in a very low tone or in a +mysterious language, and usually only signs or whistle signals were used. + +Such pacific methods were successful to a considerable degree until the +carpetbaggers and scalawags were placed in office under the Reconstruction +Acts. Then more violent methods were necessary. The Mans patrolled disturbed +communities, visited, warned, and frightened obnoxious individuals, whipped +some, and even hanged others. Until forbidden by law or military order, the +newspapers were accustomed to print the mysterious proclamations of the Ku +Klux. The following, which was circulated in Montgomery, Alabama, in April +1868, is a typical specimen: + +K. K. K. Clan of Vega. HDQRS K.K.K. HOSPITALLERS. + +Vega Clan, New Moon, 3rd Month, Anno K. K. K. 1. + +ORDER No. K. K. + +Clansmen--Meet at the Trysting Spot when Orion Kisses the Zenith. The doom of +treason is Death. Dies Irae. The wolf is on his walk--the serpent coils to +strike. Action! Action!! Action!!! By midnight and the Tomb; by Sword and +Torch and the Sacred Oath at Forrester's Altar, I bid you come! The clansmen +of Glen Iran and Alpine will greet you at the new-made grave. + +Remember the Ides of April. + +By command of the Grand D. I. H. + +Cheg. V. + +The work of the secret orders was successful. As bodies of vigilantes, the +Mans and the Councils regulated the conduct of bad Negroes, punished criminals +who were not punished by the state, looked after the activities and teachings +of Northern preachers and teachers, dispersed hostile gatherings of Negroes, +and ran out of the community the worst of the reconstructionist officials. +They kept the Negroes quiet and freed them to some extent from the influence +of evil leaders. The burning of houses, gins, mills, and stores ceased; +property became more secure; people slept safely at night; women and children +walked abroad in security; the incendiary agents who had worked among the +Negroes left the country; agitators, political, educational, and religious, +became more moderate; "bad niggers" ceased to be bad; labor became less +disorganized; the carpetbaggers and scalawags ceased to batten on the Southern +communities. It was not so much a revolution as the defeat of a revolution. +Society was replaced in the old historic grooves from which war and +reconstruction had jarred it. + +Successful as was the Ku Klux movement in these respects, it had at the same +time many harmful results. Too often local orders fell under the control of +reckless or lawless men and the Klan was then used as a cloak to cover +violence and thievery; family and personal feuds were carried into the orders +and fought out; and anti-Negro feeling in many places found expression in +activities designed to drive the blacks from the country. It was easy for any +outlaw to hide himself behind the protection of a secret order. So numerous +did these men become that after 1868 there was a general exodus of the leading +reputable members, and in 1869 the formal disbanding of the Klan was +proclaimed by General Forrest, the Grand Wizard. The White Camelia and other +orders also gradually went out of existence. Numerous attempts were made to +suppress the secret movement by the military commanders, the state +governments, and finally by Congress, but none of these was entirely +successful, for in each community the secret opposition lasted as long as it +was needed. The political effects of the orders, however, survived their +organized existence. Some of the Southern States began to go Democratic in +spite of the Reconstruction Acts and the Amendments, and there was little +doubt that the Ku Klux movement had aided in this change. In order to preserve +the achievements of radical reconstruction Congress passed, in 1870 and 1871, +the enforcement acts which had been under debate for nearly two years. The +first act (May 31, 1870) was designed to protect the Negro's right to vote and +was directed at individuals as well as against states. Section six, indeed, +was aimed specifically at the Ku Klux Klan. This act was a long step in the +direction of giving the Federal Government control over state elections. But +as North Carolina went wholly and Alabama partially Democratic in 1870, a +Supplementary Act (February 28, 1871) went further and placed the elections +for members of Congress completely under Federal control, and also authorized +the use of thousands of deputy marshals at elections. As the campaign of 1872 +drew near, Grant and his advisers became solicitous to hold all the Southern +States which had not been regained by the Democrats. Accordingly, on March 23, +1871, the President sent a message to Congress declaring that in some of the +states the laws could not be enforced and asked for remedial legislation. +Congress responded with an act (April 20, 1871), commonly called the "Ku Klux +Act," which gave the President despotic military power to uphold the remaining +Negro governments and authorized him to declare a state of war when he +considered it necessary. Of this power Grant made use in only one instance. In +October 1871, he declared nine counties of South Carolina in rebellion and put +them under martial law. + +During the ten years following 1870, several thousand arrests were made under +the enforcement acts and about 1,250 convictions were secured, principally in +Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Most of these +violations of election laws, however, had nothing to do with the Ku Klux +movement, for by 1870 the better class of members had withdrawn from the +secret orders. But though the enforcement acts checked these irregularities to +a considerable extent, they nevertheless failed to hold the South for the +radicals and essential parts of them were declared unconstitutional a few +years later. + +In order to justify the passage of the enforcement acts and to obtain campaign +material for use in 1872, Congress appointed a committee, organized on the +very day when the Ku Klux Act was approved, to investigate conditions in the +Southern States. From June to August 1871, the committee took testimony in +Washington, and in the fall subcommittees visited several Southern States. +Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas were, however, omitted +from the investigation. Notwithstanding the partisan purpose and methods of +the investigation, the report of the committee and the accompanying testimony +constituted a Democratic rather than a Republican document. It is a veritable +mine of information about the South between 1865 and 1871. The Democratic +minority members made skillful use of their opportunity to expose conditions +in the South. They were less concerned to meet the charges made against the Ku +Klux Klan than to show why such movements came about. The Republicans, +concerned mainly about material for the presidential campaign, neglected the +broader phases of the situation. + +Opposition to the effects of reconstruction did not come to an end with the +dissolution of the more famous orders. On the contrary, it now became public +and open and resulted in the organization, after 1872, of the White League, +the Mississippi Shot Gun Plan, the White Man's Party in Alabama, and the Rifle +Clubs in South Carolina. The later movements were distinctly but cautiously +anti-Negro. There was most irritation in the white counties where there were +large numbers of Negroes. Negro schools and churches were burned because they +served as meeting places for Negro political organizations. The color line +began to be more and more sharply drawn. Social and business ostracism +continued to be employed against white radicals, while the Negroes were +discharged from employment or were driven from their rented farms. + +The Ku Klux movement, it is to be noted in retrospect, originated as an effort +to restore order in the war-stricken Southern States. The secrecy of its +methods appealed to the imagination and caused its rapid expansion, and this +secrecy was inevitable because opposition to reconstruction was not lawful. As +the reconstruction policies were put into operation, the movement became +political and used violence when appeals to superstitious fears ceased to be +effective. The Ku Klux Klan centered, directed, and crystallized public +opinion, and united the whites upon a platform of white supremacy. The +Southern politicians stood aloof from the movement but accepted the results of +its work. It frightened the Negroes and bad whites into better conduct, and it +encouraged the conservatives and aided them to regain control of society, for +without the operations of the Klan the black districts would never have come +again under white control. Towards the end, however, its methods frequently +became unnecessarily violent and did great harm to Southern society. The Ku +Klux system of regulating society is as old as history; it had often been used +before; it may even be used again. When a people find themselves persecuted by +aliens under legal forms, they will invent some means outside the law for +protecting themselves; and such experiences will inevitably result in a +weakening of respect for law and in a return to more primitive methods of +justice. + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE CHANGING SOUTH + +"The bottom rail is on top" was a phrase which had flashed throughout the late +Confederate States. It had been coined by the Negroes in 1867 to express their +view of the situation, but its aptness had been recognized by all. After ten +years of social and economic revolution, however, it was not so clear that the +phrase of 1867 correctly described the new situation. "The white man made +free" would have been a more accurate epitome, for the white man had been +able, in spite of his temporary disabilities, to compete with the Negro in all +industries. + +It will be remembered that the Negro districts were least exposed to the +destruction of war. The well-managed plantation, lying near the highways of +commerce, with its division of labor, nearly or quite self-sufficing, was the +bulwark of the Confederacy. When the fighting ended, an industrial revolution +began in these untouched parts of the Black Belt. The problem of free Negro +labor now appeared. During the year 1865, no general plan for a labor system +was formulated except by the Freedmen's Bureau. That, however, was not a +success. There were all sorts of makeshifts, such as cash wages, deferred +wages, cooperation, even sharing of expense and product, and contracts, either +oral or written. + +The employers showed a disposition to treat the Negro family as a unit in +making contracts for labor, wages, food, clothes, and care.* In general these +early arrangements were made to transform slavery with its mutual duties and +obligations into a free labor system with wages and "privileges." The +"privileges" of slavery could not be destroyed; in fact, they have never yet +been destroyed in numerous places. Curious demands were made by the Negroes: +here, farm bells must not ring; there, overseers or managers must be done away +with; in some places plantation courts were to settle matters of work, rent, +and conduct; elsewhere, agreements were made that on Saturday the laborer +should be permitted to go to town and, perhaps, ride a mule or horse. In South +Carolina the Sea Island Negroes demanded that in laying out work the old +"tasks" or "stints" of slavery days be retained as the standard. The farming +districts at the edge of the Black Belt, where the races were about equal in +numbers, already had a kind of "share system," and in these sections the +economic chaos after the war was not so complete. The former owners worked in +the field with their ex-slaves and thus provided steady employment for many. +Farms were rented for a fixed sum of money, or for a part of the crop, or on +"shares." + +* J. D. B. De Bow, the economist, testified before the Joint Committee on +Reconstruction that, if the Negro would work, free labor would be better for +the planters than slave labor. He called attention to the fact, however, that +Negro women showed a desire to avoid field labor, and there is also evidence +to show that they objected to domestic service and other menial work. + + +The white districts, which had previously fought a losing competition with the +efficiently managed and inexpensive slave labor of the Black Belt, were +affected most disastrously by war and its aftermath. They were distant from +transportation lines and markets; they employed poor farming methods; they had +no fertilizers; they raised no staple crops on their infertile land; and in +addition they now had to face the destitution that follows fighting. Yet these +regions had formerly been almost self-supporting, although the farms were +small and no elaborate labor system had been developed. In the planting +districts where the owner was land-poor, he made an attempt to bring in +Northern capital and Northern or foreign labor. In the belief that the Negroes +would work better for a Northern man, every planter who could do so secured a +Northern partner or manager, frequently a soldier. Nevertheless these imported +managers nearly always failed because they did not understand cotton, rice, or +sugar planting, and because they were either too severe or too easy upon the +blacks. + +No Northern labor was to be had, and the South could not retain even all its +own native whites. Union soldiers and others seeking to better their prospects +moved west and northwest to fill the newly opened lands, while the +Confederates, kept out of the homestead region by the test oath, swarmed into +Texas, which owned its own public lands, or went North to other occupations. +Nor could the desperate planters hire foreign immigrants. Several states, +among them South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana, advertised for laborers and +established labor bureaus, but without avail. The Negro politicians in 1867 +declared themselves opposed to all movements to foster immigration. So in the +Black Belt the Negro had, for forty years, a monopoly of farm labor. + +The share system of tenantry, with its attendant evils of credit and crop +lien, was soon established in the Southern States, mainly in the Black Belt, +but to some extent also in the white districts. The landlord furnished land, +house, fuel, water, and all or a part of the seed, fertilizer, farm +implements, and farm animals. In return he received a "half," or a "third and +fourth," his share depending upon how much he had furnished. The best class of +tenants would rent for cash or a fixed rental, the poorest laborers would work +for wages only. + +The "privileges" brought over from slavery, which were included in the share +renting, astonished outside observers. To the laborer was usually given a +house, a water supply, wood for fuel, pasture for pigs or cows, a "patch" for +vegetables and fruit, and the right to hunt and fish. These were all that some +needed in order to live. Somers, the English traveler already quoted, +pronounced this generous custom "outrageously absurd," for the Negroes had so +many privileges that they refused to make use of their opportunities. "The +soul is often crushed out of labor by penury and oppression," he said, "but +here a soul cannot begin to be infused into it through the sheer excess of +privilege and license with which it is surrounded." The credit system which +was developed beside the share system made a bad condition worse. On the 1st +of January, a planter could mortgage his future crop to a merchant or landlord +in exchange for subsistence until the harvest. Since, as a rule, neither +tenant nor landlord had any surplus funds, the latter would be supplied by the +banker or banker merchant, who would then dictate the crops to be planted and +the time of sale. As a result of these conditions, the planter or farmer was +held to staple crops, high prices for necessities, high interest rate, and +frequently unfair bookkeeping. The system was excellent for a thrifty, +industrious, and intelligent man, for it enabled him to get a start. It worked +to the advantage of a bankrupt landlord, who could in this way get banking +facilities. But it had a mischievous effect upon the average tenant, who had +too small a share of the crop to feel a strong sense of responsibility as well +as too many "privileges" and too little supervision to make him anxious to +produce the best results. + +The Negroes entered into their freedom with several advantages: they were +trained to labor; they were occupying the most fertile soil and could purchase +land at low prices; the tenant system was most liberal; cotton, sugar, and +rice were bringing high prices; and access to markets was easy. In the white +districts, land was cheap and prices of commodities were high, but otherwise +the Negroes seemed to have the better position. Yet as early as 1870, keen +observers called attention to the fact that the hill and mountain whites were +thriving as compared with their former condition, and that the Negroes were no +longer their serious competitors. In the white districts, better methods were +coming into use, labor was steady, fertilizers were used, and conditions of +transportation were improving. The whites were also encroaching on the Black +Belt; they were opening new lands in the Southwest; and within the border of +the Black Belt they were bringing Negro labor under some control. In the South +Carolina rice lands, crowds of Irish were imported to do the ditching which +the Negroes refused to do and were carried back North when the job was +finished.* President Thach of the Alabama Agricultural College has thus +described the situation: + + * The Census of 1880 gave proof of the superiority of the whites in cotton +production. For purposes of comparison the cotton area may be divided into +three regions: first, the Black Belt, in which the farmers were black, the +soil fertile, the plantations large, the credit evil at its worst, and the +yield of cotton per acre the least; second, the white districts, where the +soil was the poorest, the farms small, the workers nearly all white, and the +yield per acre better than on the fertile Black Belt lands; third, the regions +in which the races were nearly equal in numbers or where the whites were in a +slight majority, with soil of medium fertility, good methods of agriculture, +and, owing to better controlled labor, the best yield. In ether words, +Negroes, fertile soil, and poor crops went together; and on the other hand the +whites got better crops on less fertile soil. The Black Belt has never again +reached the level of production it had in 1880. But the white district kept +improving slowly. + +"By the use of commercial fertilizers, vast regions once considered barren +have been brought into profitable cultivation, and really afford a more +reliable and constant crop than the rich alluvial lands of the old slave +plantations. In nearly every agricultural county in the South there is to be +observed, on the one hand, this section of fertile soils, once the heart, of +the old civilization, now abandoned by the whites, held in tenantry by a dense +Negro population, full of dilapidation and ruin; while on the other hand, +there is the region of light, thin soils, occupied by the small white +freeholder, filled with schools, churches, and good roads, and all the +elements of a happy, enlightened country life." + +All the systems devised for handling Negro labor proved to be only partially +successful. The laborer was migratory, wanted easy work, with one or two +holidays a week, and the privilege of attending political meetings, camp +meetings, and circuses. A thrifty Negro could not make headway because his +fellows stole from him or his less energetic relations and friends visited him +and ate up his substance. One Alabama planter declared that he could not raise +a turkey, a chicken, a hog, or a cow; and another asserted that "a hog has no +more chance to live among these thieving Negro farmers than a June bug in a +gang of puddle ducks." Lands were mortgaged to the supply houses in the towns, +the whites gradually deserted the country, and many rice and cotton fields +grew up in weeds. Crop stealing at night became a business which no +legislation could ever completely stop. A traveler has left the following +description of "a model Negro farm" in 1874. The farmer purchased an old mule +on credit and rented land on shares or for so many bales of cotton; any old +tools were used; corn, bacon, and other supplies were bought on credit, and a +crop lien was given; a month later, corn and cotton were planted on soil that +was not well broken up; the Negro "would not pay for no guano" to put on other +people's land; by turns the farmer planted and fished, plowed and hunted, hoed +and frolicked, or went to "meeting." At the end of the year he sold his +cotton, paid part of his rent and some of his debt, returned the mule to its +owner, and sang: + +Nigger work hard all de year, White man tote de money. + +The great landholdings did not break up into small farms as was predicted, +though sales were frequent and in 1865 enormous amounts of land were put on +the market. After 1867, additional millions of acres were offered at small +prices, and tax and mortgage sales were numerous. The result of these +operations, however, was a change of landlords rather than a breaking up of +large plantations. New men, Negroes, merchants, and Jews became landowners. +The number of small farms naturally increased but so in some instances did the +land concentrated into large holdings. + +It was inevitable that conditions of Negro life should undergo a revolutionary +change during the reconstruction. The serious matter of looking out for +himself and his family and of making a living dampened the Negro's cheerful +spirits. Released from the discipline of slavery and often misdirected by the +worst of teachers, the Negro race naturally ran into excesses of petty +criminality. Even under the reconstruction governments the proportion of Negro +to white criminals was about ten to one. Theft was frequent; arson was the +accepted means of revenge on white people; and murder became common in the +brawls of the city Negro quarters. The laxness of the marriage relation worked +special hardship on the women and children in so many cases deserted by the +head of the family. + +Out of the social anarchy of reconstruction the Negroes emerged with numerous +organizations of their own which may have been imitations of the Union League, +the Lincoln Brotherhood, and the various church organizations. These societies +were composed entirely of blacks and have continued with prolific reproduction +to the present day. They were characterized by high names, gorgeous regalia, +and frequent parades. "The Brothers and Sisters of Pleasure and Prosperity" +and the "United Order of African Ladies and Gentlemen" played a large, and on +the whole useful, part in Negro social life, teaching lessons of thrift, +insurance, cooperation, and mutual aid. + +The reconstructionists were not able in 1867-68 to carry through Congress any +provision for the social equality of the races, but in the reconstructed +states, the equal rights issue was alive throughout the period. Legislation +giving to the Negro equal rights in hotels, places of amusements, and common +carriers, was first enacted in Louisiana and South Carolina. Frequently the +carpetbaggers brought up the issue in order to rid the radical ranks of the +scalawags who were opposed to equal rights. In Florida, for example, the +carpetbaggers framed a comprehensive Equal Rights Law, passed it, and +presented it to Governor Reed, who was known to be opposed to such +legislation. He vetoed the measure and thus lost the Negro support. +Intermarriage with whites was made legal in Louisiana and South Carolina and +by court decision was permitted in Alabama and Mississippi, but the Georgia +Supreme Court held it to be illegal. Mixed marriages were few, but these were +made occasions of exultation over the whites and of consequent ill feeling. + +Charles Sumner was a persistent agitator for equal rights. In 1871 he declared +in a letter to a South Carolina Negro convention that the race must insist not +only upon equality in hotels and on public carriers but also in the schools. +"It is not enough, " he said, "to provide separate accommodations for colored +citizens even if in all respects as good as those of other persons . . . . The +discrimination is an insult and a hindrance, and a bar, which not only +destroys comfort and prevents equality, but weakens all other rights. The +right to vote will have new security when your equal right in public +conveyances, hotels, and common schools, is at last established; but here you +must insist for yourselves by speech, petition, and by vote." The Southern +whites began to develop the "Jim Crow" theory of "separate but equal" +accommodations. Senator Hill of Georgia, for example, thought that hotels +might have separate divisions for the two races, and he cited the division in +the churches as proof that the Negro wanted separation. + +About 1874, it was plain that the last radical Congress was nearly ready to +enact social equality legislation. This fact turned many of the Southern +Unionist class back to the Democratic party, there to remain for a long time. +In 1875, as a sort of memorial to Sumner, Congress passed the Civil Rights +Act, which gave to Negroes equal rights in hotels, places of amusement, on +public carriers, and on juries. Some Democratic leaders were willing to see +such legislation enacted, because in the first place, it would have little +effect except in the Border and Northern States, where it would turn thousands +into the Democratic fold, and in the second place, because they were sure that +in time the Supreme Court would declare the law unconstitutional. And so it +happened. + +In regions where the more unprincipled radical leaders were in control, the +whites lived at times in fear of Negro uprisings. The Negroes were armed and +insolent, and the whites were few and widely scattered. Here and there +outbreaks occurred and individual whites and isolated families suffered, but +as a rule all such movements were crushed with much heavier loss to the +Negroes than to the better organized whites. Nevertheless everlasting +apprehension for the safety of women and children kept the white men nervous. +General Garnett Andrews remarked about the situation in Mississippi: + +"I have never suffered such an amount of anguish and alarm in all my life. I +have served through the whole war as a soldier in the army of Northern +Virginia, and saw all of it; but I never did experience . . . the fear and +alarm and sense of danger which I felt that time. And this was the universal +feeling among the population, among the white people. I think that both sides +were alarmed and felt uneasy. It showed itself upon the countenance of the +people; it made many of them sick. Men looked haggard and pale, after +undergoing this sort of thing for six weeks or a month, and I have felt when I +laid [sic] down that neither myself, nor my wife and children were in safety. +I expected, and honestly anticipated, and thought it highly probable, that I +might be assassinated and my house set on fire at any time." + +By the fires of reconstruction the whites were fused into a more homogeneous +society, social as well as political. The former slaveholding class continued +to be more considerate of the Negro than were the poor whites; but, as misrule +went on, all classes tended to unite against the Negro in politics. They were +tired of reconstruction, new amendments, force bills, Federal troops-- tired +of being ruled as conquered provinces by the incompetent and the dishonest. +Every measure aimed at the South seemed to them to mean that they were +considered incorrigible and unworthy of trust, and that they were being made +to suffer for the deeds of irresponsible whites. And, to make matters worse, +strong opposition to proscriptive measures was called fresh rebellion. "When +the Jacobins say and do low and bitter things, their charge of want of loyalty +in the South because our people grumble back a little seems to me as +unreasonable as the complaint of the little boy: 'Mamma, make Bob 'have +hisself. He makes mouths at me every time I hit him with my stick.'"* + +* Usually ascribed to General D. H. Hill of North Carolina, and quoted in "The +Land We Love", vol. 1, p. 146. + + +Probably this burden fell heavier on the young men, who had life before them +and who were growing up with diminished opportunities. Sidney Lanier, then an +Alabama school teacher, wrote to Bayard Taylor: "Perhaps you know that with us +of the young generation in the South, since the war, pretty much the whole of +life has been merely not dying." Negro and alien rule was a constant insult to +the intelligence of the country. The taxpayers were nonparticipants in the +affairs of government. Some people withdrew entirely from public life, went to +their farms or plantations, kept away from towns and from speechmaking, +waiting for the end to come. There were some who refused for several years to +read the newspapers, so unpleasant was the news. The good feeling produced by +the magnanimity of Grant at Appomattox was destroyed by the severity of his +Southern policy when he became President. There was no gratitude for any +so-called leniency of the North, no repentance for the war, no desire for +humiliation, for sackcloth and ashes, and no confession of wrong. The +insistence of the radicals upon obtaining a confession of depravity only made +things much worse. Scarcely a measure of Congress during reconstruction was +designed or received in a conciliatory spirit. + +The new generation of whites was poor, bitter because of persecution, +ill-educated, overworked, without a bright future, and shadowed by the race +problem. Though their new political leaders were shrewd, narrow, conservative, +honest, and parsimonious, the constant fighting of fire with fire scorched +all. In the bitter discipline of reconstruction, the pleasantest side of +Southern life came to an end. During the war and the consequent reconstruction +there was a marked change in Southern temperament toward the severe. +Hospitality declined; the old Southern life had never been on a business +basis, but the new Southern life now adjusted itself to a stricter economy; +the old individuality was partially lost; but class distinctions were less +obvious in a more homogeneous society. The material evils of reconstruction +may be only temporary; state debts may be paid and wasted resources renewed; +but the moral and intellectual results of the revolution will be the more +permanent. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. RESTORATION OF HOME RULE + +The radical program of reconstruction ended after ten years in failure rather +because of a change in public opinion in the North than because of the +resistance of the Southern whites. The North of 1877, indeed, was not the +North of 1867. A more tolerant attitude toward the South developed as the +North passed through its own period of misgovernment when all the large cities +were subject to "ring rule" and corruption, as in New York under "Boss" Tweed +and in the District of Columbia under "Boss" Shepherd. The Federal civil +service was discredited by the scandals connected with the Sanborn contracts, +the Whisky Ring, and the Star Routes, while some leaders in Congress were +under a cloud from the "Salary Grab" and Credit Mobilier disclosures.* + +* See "The Boss and the Machine", by Samuel P. Orth in "The Chronicles of +America"). + + +The marvelous material development of the North and West also drew attention +away from sectional controversies. Settlers poured into the plains beyond the +Mississippi and the valleys of the Far West; new industries sprang up; +unsuspected mineral wealth was discovered; railroads were built. Not only +bankers but taxpaying voters took an interest in the financial readjustments +of the time. Many thousand people followed the discussions over the funding +and refunding of the national debt, the retirement of the greenbacks, and the +proposed lowering of tariff duties. Yet the Black Friday episode of 1869, when +Jay Gould and James Fisk cornered the visible supply of gold, and the panic of +1873 were indications of unsound financial conditions. + +These new developments and the new domestic problems which they involved all +tended to divert public thought from the old political issues arising out of +the war. Foreign relations, too, began to take on a new interest. The Alabama +claims controversy with England continued to hold the public attention until +finally settled by the Geneva Arbitration in 1872. President Grant, as much of +an expansionist as Seward, for two years (1869-71) tried to secure Santo +Domingo or a part of it for an American naval base in the West Indies. But the +United States had race problems enough already and the Senate, led by Sumner, +refused to sanction the acquisition. Relations with Spain were frequently +strained on account of American filibustering expeditions to aid Cuban +insurgents. Spain repeatedly charged the United States with laxness toward +such violations of international law; and President Grant, seeing no other way +out, recommended in 1869 and again in 1870 that the Cuban insurgents be +recognized as belligerents, but still the Senate held back. The climax came in +1873, when the Spanish authorities in Cuba captured on the high seas the +Virginius* with a filibustering expedition on board and executed fifty-three +of the crew and passengers, among them eight Americans. For a time war seemed +imminent, but Spain acted quickly and effected a peaceable settlement. + +* See "The Path of Empire", by Carl Russell Fish (in "The Chronicles of +America"), p. 119. + + +It became evident soon after 1867 that the issues involved in reconstruction +were not in themselves sufficient to hold the North solidly Republican. Toward +Negro suffrage, for example, Northern public opinion was on the whole +unfriendly. In 1867, the Negro was permitted to vote only in New York and in +New England, except in Connecticut. Before 1869, Negro suffrage was rejected +in Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kansas, Ohio, Maryland, Missouri, Michigan, and +Minnesota. The Republicans in their national platform of 1868 went only so far +as to say that, while Negro suffrage was to be forced upon the South, it must +remain a local question in the North. The Border States rapidly lined up with +the white South on matters of race, church, and politics. + +It was not until 1874, however, that the changing opinion was made generally +effective in the elections. The skillfully managed radical organization held +large majorities in every Congress from the Thirty-ninth to the Forty-third, +and the electoral votes in 1868 and 1879 seemed to show that the conservative +opposition was insignificant. But these figures do not tell the whole story. +Even in 1864, when Lincoln won by nearly half a million, the popular vote was +as eighteen to twenty-two, and four years later Grant, the most popular man in +the United States, had a majority of only three hundred thousand over Seymour, +and this majority and more came from the new Negro voters. Four years later +with about a million Negro voters available and an opposition not pleased with +its own candidate, Grant's majority reached only seven hundred thousand. At no +one time in elections did the North pronounce itself in favor of all the +reconstruction policies. The break, signs of which were visible as early as +1869, came in 1874 when the Republicans lost control of the House of +Representatives. + +Strength was given to the opposition because of the dissatisfaction with +President Grant, who knew little about politics and politicians. He felt that +his Cabinet should be made up of personal friends, not of strong advisers, and +that the military ideal of administration was the proper one. He was faithful +but undiscriminating in his friendships and frequently chose as his associates +men of vulgar tastes and low motives; and he showed a naive love of money and +an undisguised admiration for rich men such as Gould and Fisk. His appointees +were often incompetent friends or relatives, and his cynical attitude toward +civil service reform lost him the support of influential men. When forced by +party exigencies to select first-class men for his Cabinet, he still preferred +to go for advice to practical politicians. On the Southern question he easily +fell under control of the radicals, who in order to retain their influence had +only to convince his military mind that the South was again in rebellion, and +who found it easy to distract public opinion from political corruption by +"waving the bloody shirt." Dissatisfaction with his Administration, it is +true, was confined to the intellectuals, the reformers, and the Democrats, but +they were strong enough to defeat him for a second term if they could only be +organized. + +The Liberal Republican movement began in the West about 1869 with demands for +amnesty and for reform, particularly in the civil service, and it soon spread +rapidly over the North. When it became certain that the "machine" would +renominate Grant, the liberal movement became an anti-Grant party. The "New +Departure" Democrats gave comfort and prospect of aid to the Liberal +Republicans by declaring for a constructive, forward-looking policy in place +of reactionary opposition. The Liberal chiefs were led to believe that the new +Democratic leaders would accept their platform and candidates in order to +defeat Grant. The principal candidates for the Liberal Republican nomination +were Charles Francis Adams, Lyman Trumbull, Gratz Brown, David Davis, and +Horace Greeley. Adams was the strongest candidate but was jockeyed out of +place and the nomination was given to Horace Greeley, able enough as editor of +the "New York Tribune" but impossible as a candidate for the presidency. The +Democratic party accepted him as their candidate also, although he had been a +lifelong opponent of Democratic principles and policies. But disgusted +Liberals either returned to the Republican ranks or stayed away from the +polls, and many Democrats did likewise. Under these circumstances the +reelection of Grant was a foregone conclusion. There was certainly a potential +majority against Grant, but the opposition had failed to organize, while the +Republican machine was in good working order, the Negroes were voting, and the +Enforcement Acts proved a great aid to the Republicans in the Southern States. + +One good result of the growing liberal sentiment was the passage of an Amnesty +Act by Congress on May 22, 1872. By statute and by the Fourteenth Amendment, +Congress had refused to recognize the complete validity of President Johnson's +pardons and amnesty proclamations, and all Confederate leaders who wished to +regain political rights had therefore to appeal to Congress. During the +Forty-first Congress (1869-71) more than three thousand Southerners were +amnestied in order that they might hold office. These, however, were for the +most part scalawags; the most respectable whites would not seek an amnesty +which they could secure only by self-stultification.* It was the pressure of +public opinion against white disfranchisement and the necessity for meeting +the Liberal Republican arguments which caused the passage of the Act of 1872. +By this act about 150,000 whites were reenfranchised, leaving out only about +five hundred of the most prominent of the old regime, most of whom were never +restored to citizenship. Both Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis died +disfranchised. + +* The machinery of government and politics was all in radical hands--the +carpetbaggers and scalawags, who were numerous enough to fill practically all +the offices. These men were often able leaders and skillful managers, and they +did not intend to surrender control; and the black race was obedient and +furnished the votes. In 1868, with Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas +unrepresented, the first radical contingent in Congress from the South +numbered 41, of whom 10 out of 12 senators and 26 out of 32 representatives +were carpetbaggers. There were two lone conservative Congressmen. A few months +later, in 1869, there were 64 radical representatives from the South, 20 +senators and 44 members of the House of Representatives. In 1877 this number +had dwindled to two senators and four representatives. The difference between +these figures measures in some degree the extent of the undoing of +reconstruction within the period of Grant's Administration. + +How the Southern whites escaped from Negro domination has often been told and +may here be sketched only in outline. The first States regained from +radicalism were those in which the Negro population was small and the black +vote large enough to irritate but not to dominate. Although Northern +sentiment, excited by the stories of "Southern outrage," was then unfavorable, +the conservatives of the South, by organizing a "white man's party" and by the +use of Ku Klux methods, made a fight for social safety which they won nearly +everywhere, and, in addition, they gained political control of several +States--Tennessee in 1869, Virginia in 1869-1870, and North Carolina and +Georgia in 1870. They almost won Louisiana in 1868 and Alabama in 1870, but +the alarmed radicals came to the rescue of the situation with the Fifteenth +Amendment and the Enforcement Laws of 1870-1871. With more troops and a larger +number of deputy marshals, it seemed that the radicals might securely hold the +remaining states. Arrests of conservatives were numerous, plundering was at +its height, the Federal Government was interested and was friendly to the new +Southern rulers, and the carpetbaggers and scalawags feasted, troubled only by +the disposition of their Negro supporters to demand a share of the spoils. +Although the whites made little gain from 1870 to 1874, the states already +rescued became more firmly conservative; white counties here and there in the +black states voted out the radicals; a few more representatives of the whites +got into Congress; and the Border States ranged themselves more solidly with +the conservatives. + +But while the Southern whites were becoming desperate under oppression, public +opinion in the North was at last beginning to affect politics. The elections +of 1874 resulted in a Democratic landslide of which the Administration was +obliged to take notice. Grant now grew more responsive to criticism. In 1875 +he replied to a request for troops to hold down Mississippi: "The whole public +are tired out with these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South and the great +majority are ready now to condemn any interference on the part of the +Government." As soon as conditions in the South were better understood in the +North, ready sympathy and political aid were offered by many who had hitherto +acted with the radicals. The Ku Klux report as well as the newspaper writings +and the books of J. S. Pike and Charles Nordhoff, both former opponents of +slavery, opened the eyes of many to the evil results of Negro suffrage. Some +who had been considered friends of the Negro, now believing that he had proven +to be a political failure, coldly abandoned him and turned their altruistic +interests to other objects more likely to succeed. Many real friends of the +Negro were alarmed at the evils of the reconstruction and were anxious to see +the corrupt political leaders deprived of further influence over the race. To +others the constantly recurring Southern problem was growing stale, and they +desired to hear less of it. Within the Republican party in each Southern +State, there were serious divisions over the spoils. First it was carpetbagger +and Negro against the scalawag; later, when the black leaders insisted that +those who furnished the votes must have the larger share of the rewards, the +fight became triangular. As a result, by 1874 the Republican party in the +South was split into factions and was deserted by a large proportion of its +white membership. + +The conservative whites, fiercely resentful after their experiences under the +enforcement laws and hopeful of Northern sympathy, now planned a supreme +effort to regain their former power. Race lines were more strictly drawn; +ostracism of all that was radical became the rule; the Republican party in the +South, it was apparent, was doomed to be only a Negro party weighed down by +the scandal of bad government; the state treasuries were bankrupt, and there +was little further opportunity for plunder. These considerations had much to +do with the return of scalawags to the "white man's party" and the retirement +of carpetbaggers from Southern politics. There was no longer anything in it, +they said; let the Negro have it! + +It was under these conditions that the "white man's party" carried the +elections in Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas in 1874, and Mississippi in 1875. +Asserting that it was a contest between civilization and barbarism, and that +the whites under the radical regime had no opportunity to carry an election +legally, the conservatives openly made use of every method of influencing the +result that could possibly come within the radical law and they even employed +many effective methods that lay outside the law. Negroes were threatened with +discharge from employment and whites with tar and feathers if they voted the +radical ticket; there were nightriding parties, armed and drilled "white +leagues," and mysterious firing of guns and cannon at night; much plain talk +assailed the ears of the radical leaders; and several bloody outbreaks +occurred, principally in Louisiana and Mississippi. Louisiana had been carried +by the Democrats in the fall of 1872, but the radical returning board had +reversed the election. In 1874 the whites rose in rebellion and turned out +Kellogg, the usurping Governor, but President Grant intervened to restore him +to office. The "Mississippi" or "shot-gun plan"* was very generally employed, +except where the contest was likely to go in favor of the whites without the +use of undue pressure. The white leaders exercised a moderating influence, but +the average white man had determined to do away with Negro government even +though the alternative might be a return of military rule. Congress +investigated the elections in each State which overthrew the +reconstructionists, but nothing came of the inquiry and the population rapidly +settled down into good order. After 1875 only three States were left under +radical government--Louisiana and Florida, where the returning boards could +throw out any Democratic majority, and South Carolina, where the Negroes +greatly outnumbered the whites. + +* See "The New South", by Holland Thompson (in "The Chronicles of America"). + + +Reconstruction could hardly be a genuine issue in the presidential campaign of +1876, because all except these three reconstructed States had escaped from +radical control, and there was no hope and little real desire of regaining +them. It was even expected that in this year the radicals would lose Louisiana +and Florida to the "white man's party." The leaders of the best element of the +Republicans, both North and South, looked upon the reconstruction as one of +the prime causes of the moral breakdown of their party; they wanted no more of +the Southern issue but planned a forward-looking, constructive reform. + +To some of the Republican leaders, however, among whom was James G. Blame, it +was clear that the Republican party, with its unsavory record under Grant's +Administration, could hardly go before the people with a reform program. The +only possible thing to do was to revive some Civil War issue--"wave the bloody +shirt" and fan the smoldering embers of sectional feeling. Blame met with +complete success in raising the desired issue. In January 1876, when an +amnesty measure was brought before the House, he moved that Jefferson Davis be +excepted on the ground that he was responsible for the mistreatment of Union +prisoners during the war. Southern hot-bloods replied, and Blaine skillfully +led them on until they had foolishly furnished him with ample material for +campaign purposes. The feeling thus aroused was so strong that it even +galvanized into seeming life the dying interest in the wrongs of the Negro. +The rallying cry "Vote as you shot!" gave the Republicans something to fight +for; the party referred to its war record, claimed credit for preserving the +Union, emancipating the Negro, and reconstructing the South, and demanded that +the country be not "surrendered to rebel rule." + +Hayes and Tilden, the rival candidates for the presidency, were both men of +high character and of moderate views. Their nominations had been forced by the +better element of each party. Hayes, the Republican candidate, had been a good +soldier, was moderate in his views on Southern questions, and had a clean +political reputation. Tilden, his opponent, had a good record as a party man +and as a reformer, and his party needed only to attack the past record of the +Republicans. The principal Democratic weakness lay in the fact that the party +drew so much of its strength from the white South and was therefore subjected +to criticism on Civil War issues. + +The campaign was hotly contested and was conducted on a low plane. Even Hayes +soon saw that the "bloody shirt" issue was the main vote winner. The whites of +the three "unredeemed" Southern States nerved themselves for the final +struggle. In South Carolina and in some parishes of Louisiana, there was a +considerable amount of violence, in which the whites had the advantage, and +much fraud, which the Republicans, who controlled the election machinery, +turned to best account. It has been said that out of the confusion which the +Republicans created they won the presidency. + +The first election returns seemed to give Tilden the victory with 184 +undisputed electoral votes and popular majorities of ninety and over six +thousand respectively in Florida and Louisiana; only 185 votes were needed for +a choice. Hayes had 166 votes, not counting Oregon, in which one vote was in +dispute, and South Carolina, which for a time was claimed by both parties. Had +Louisiana and Florida been Northern States, there would have been no +controversy, but the Republican general headquarters knew that the Democratic +majorities in these States had to go through Republican returning boards, +which had never yet failed to throw them out. + +The interest of the nation now centered around the action of the two returning +boards. At the suggestion of President Grant, prominent Republicans went South +to witness the count. Later prominent Democrats went also. These "visiting +statesmen" were to support the frail returning boards in their duty. It was +generally understood that these boards, certainly the one in Louisiana, were +for sale, and there is little doubt that the Democrats inquired the price. But +they were afraid to bid on such uncertain quantities as Governor Wells and T. +C. Anderson of Louisiana, both notorious spoilsmen. The members of the boards +in both States soon showed the stiffening effect of the moral support of the +Federal Administration and of the "visiting statesmen." Reassured as to their +political future, they proceeded to do their duty: in Florida they threw out +votes until the ninety majority for Tilden was changed to 925 for Hayes, and +in Louisiana, by throwing out about fifteen thousand carefully selected +ballots, they changed Tilden's lowest majority of six thousand to a Hayes +majority of nearly four thousand. Naturally the Democrats sent in contesting +returns, but the presidency was really won when the Republicans secured in +Louisiana and Florida returns which were regular in form. But hoping to force +Congress to go behind the returns, the Democrats carried up contests also from +Oregon and South Carolina, whose votes properly belonged to Hayes. + +The final contest came in Congress over the counting of the electoral votes. +The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate shall, in the +presence of the Senate and the House of Representatives, open all the +Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted." But there was no agreement +as to where authority lay for deciding disputed votes. Never before had the +presidency turned on a disputed count. From 1864 to 1874 the "twenty-second +joint rule" had been in force under which either House might reject a +certificate. The votes of Georgia in 1868 and of Louisiana in 1879 had thus +been thrown out. But the rule had not been readopted by the present Congress, +and the Republicans very naturally would not listen to a proposal to readopt +it now. + +With the country apparently on the verge of civil war, Congress finally +created by law an Electoral Commission to which were to be referred all +disputes about the counting of votes and the decision of which was to be final +unless both Houses concurred in rejecting it. The act provided that the +commission should consist of five senators, five representatives, four +designated associate justices of the Supreme Court, and a fifth associate +justice to be chosen by these four. While nothing was said in the act about +the political affiliations of the members of the commission, every one +understood that the House would select three Democrats and two Republicans, +and that the Senate would name two Democrats and three Republicans. It was +also well known that of the four justices designated two were Republicans and +two Democrats, and it was tacitly agreed that the fifth would be Justice David +Davis, an "independent." But at the last moment Davis was elected Senator by +the Illinois Legislature and declined to serve on the Commission. Justice +Bradley, a Republican, was then named as the fifth justice, and in this way +the Republicans obtained a majority on the Commission. + +The Democrats deserve the credit for the Electoral Commission. The Republicans +did not favor it, even after they were sure of a party majority on it. They +were conscious that they had a weak case, and they were afraid to trust it to +judges of the Supreme Court. Their fears were groundless, however, since all +important questions were decided by an 8 to 7 vote, Bradley voting with his +fellow Republicans. Every contested vote was given to Hayes, and with 185 +electoral votes he was declared elected on March 2, 1877. + +Ten years before, Senator Morton of Indiana had said: "I would have been in +favor of having the colored people of the South wait a few years until they +were prepared for the suffrage, until they were to some extent educated, but +the necessities of the times forbade that; the conditions of things required +that they should be brought to the polls at once." Now the condition of things +required that some arrangement be made with the Southern whites which would +involve a complete reversal of the situation of 1867. In order to secure the +unopposed succession of Hayes, to defeat filibustering which might endanger +the decision of the Electoral Commission, politicians who could speak with +authority for Hayes assured influential Southern politicians, who wanted no +more civil war but who did want home rule, that an arrangement might be made +which would be satisfactory to both sides. + +So the contest was ended. Hayes was to be President; the South, with the +Negro, was to be left to the whites; there would be no further military aid to +carpetbag governments. In so far as the South was concerned, it was a +fortunate settlement better, indeed, than if Tilden had been inducted into +office. The remnants of the reconstruction policy were surrendered by a +Republican President, the troops were soon withdrawn, and the three radical +states fell at once under the control of the whites. Hayes could not see in +his election any encouragement to adopt a vigorous radical position, and +Congress was deadlocked on party issues for fifteen years. As a result the +radical Republicans had to develop other interests, and the North gradually +accepted the Southern situation. + +Although the radical policy of reconstruction came to an end in 1877, some of +its results were more lasting. The Southern States were burdened heavily with +debt, much of which had been fraudulently incurred. There now followed a +period of adjustment, of refunding, scaling, and repudiation, which not only +injured the credit of the states but left them with enormous debts. The +Democratic party under the leadership of former Confederates began its regime +of strict economy, race fairness, and inelastic Jeffersonianism. There was a +political rest which almost amounted to stagnation and which the leaders were +unwilling to disturb by progressive measures lest a developing democracy make +trouble with the settlement of 1877. + +The undoing of reconstruction was not entirely completed with the +understanding of 1877. There remained a large but somewhat shattered +Republican party in the South, with control over county and local government +in many Negro districts. Little by little the Democrats rooted out these last +vestiges of Negro control, using all the old radical methods and some +improvements,* such as tissue ballots, the shuffling of ballot boxes, bribery, +force, and redistricting, while some regions were placed entirely under +executive control and were ruled by appointed commissions. With the good +government which followed these changes a deadlocked Congress showed no great +desire to interfere. The Supreme Court came to the aid of the Democrats with +decisions in 1875, 1882, and 1883 which drew the teeth from the Enforcement +Laws, and Congress in 1894 repealed what was left of these regulations. + +*See "The New South", by Holland Thompson (in "The Chronicles of America"). + +Under such discouraging conditions the voting strength of the Republicans +rapidly melted away. The party organization existed for the Federal offices +only and was interested in keeping down the number of those who desired to be +rewarded. As a consequence, the leaders could work in harmony with those +Democratic chiefs who were content with a "solid South" and local home rule. +The Negroes of the Black Belt, with less enthusiasm and hope, but with quite +the same docility as in 1868, began to vote as the Democratic leaders +directed. This practice brought up in another form the question of "Negro +government" and resulted in a demand from the people of the white counties +that the Negro be put entirely out of politics. The answer came between 1890 +and 1902 in the form of new and complicated election laws or new constitutions +which in various ways shut out the Negro from the polls and left the +government to the whites. Three times have the Black Belt regions dominated +the Southern States: under slavery, when the master class controlled; under +reconstruction, when the leaders of the Negroes had their own way; and after +reconstruction until Negro disfranchisement, when the Democratic dictators of +the Negro vote ruled fairly but not always acceptably to the white counties +which are now the source of their political power. + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The best general accounts of the reconstruction period are found in James Ford +Rhodes's "History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the +Restoration of Home Rule at the South in 1877", volumes V, VI, VII (1906); in +William A. Dunning's "Reconstruction, Political and Economic", 1865-1877, in +the "American Nation" Series, volume XXII (1907); and in Peter Joseph +Hamilton's "The Reconstruction Period" (1905), which is volume XVI of "The +History of North America", edited by F. N. Thorpe. The work of Rhodes is +spacious and fair-minded but there are serious gaps in his narrative; +Dunning's briefer account covers the entire field with masterly handling; +Hamilton's history throws new light on all subjects and is particularly useful +for an understanding of the Southern point of view. A valuable discussion of +constitutional problems is contained in William A. Dunning's "Essay on the +Civil War and Reconstruction and Related Topics" (1904); and a criticism of +the reconstruction policies from the point of view of political science and +constitutional law is to be found in J. W. Burgess's "Reconstruction and the +Constitution, 1866-1876" (1902). E. B. Andrews's "The United States in our own +Time" (1903) gives a popular treatment of the later period. A collection of +brief monographs entitled "Why the Solid South?" by Hilary A. Herbert and +others (1890) was written as a campaign document to offset the drive made by +the Republicans in 1889 for new enforcement laws. + +There are many scholarly monographs on reconstruction in the several states. +The best of these are: J. W. Garner's "Reconstruction in Mississippi" (1901), +W. L. Fleming's "Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama" (1905), J. G. deR. +Hamilton's "Reconstruction in North Carolina" (1914), W. W. Davis's "The Civil +War and Reconstruction in Florida" (1913), J. S. Reynolds's "Reconstruction in +South Carolina", 1865-1877 (1905); C. W. Ramsdell's "Reconstruction in Texas" +(1910), and C. M. Thompson's "Reconstruction in Georgia" (1915). + +Books of interest on special phases of reconstruction are not numerous, but +among those deserving mention are Paul S. Pierce's "The Freedmen's Bureau" +(1904), D. M. DeWitt's "The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson" (1903), +and Paul L. Haworth's "The Hayes-Tilden Disputed Presidential Election of +1876" (1906), each of which is a thorough study of its field. J. C. Lester and +D. L. Wilson's "Ku Klux Klan" (1905) and M. L. Avary's "Dixie After the War" +(1906) contribute much to a fair understanding of the feeling of the whites +after the Civil War; and Gideon Welles, "Diary", 3 vols. (1911), is a mine of +information from a conservative cabinet officer's point of view. + +For the politician's point of view one may go to James G. Blaine's "Twenty +Years of Congress", 2 vols. (1884, 1886) and Samuel S. Cox's "Three Decades of +Federal Legislation" (1885). Good biographies are James A. Woodburn's "The +Life of Thaddeus Stevens" (1913), Moorfield Storey's "Charles Sumner" (1900), +C. F. Adams's "Charles Francis Adams" (1900). Less satisfactory because more +partisan is Edward Stanwood's "James Gillespie Blaine" (1906). There are no +adequate biographies of the Democratic and Southern leaders. + +The official documents are found conveniently arranged in William McDonald's +"Select Statutes", 1861-1898 (1903), and also with other material in Walter L. +Fleming's "Documentary History of Reconstruction", 2 vols. (1906, 1907). The +general reader is usually repelled by the collections known as "Public +Documents". The valuable "Ku Klux Trials" (1872) is, however, separately +printed and to be found in most good libraries. By a judicious use of the +indispensable "Tables and Index to Public Documents," one can find much +vividly interesting material in connection with contested election cases and +reports of congressional investigations into conditions in the South. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Sequel of Appomattox by Walter Lynwood Fleming + diff --git a/old/sqpmx10.zip b/old/sqpmx10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6210b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/sqpmx10.zip |
