Reconstruction is something that has been the topic of many debates from 1865 to present day. Was it successful? Did reconstruction affect even today in the South. In this article I will discuss the report from Major General Shofield who was in charge of Virginia in the military occupation of the South. His position was one that was quite difficult to stay popular within the state as well as keep the peace between the whites and the blacks. In which the military had to keep the peace.
His report tells of what is going on in Virginia during his time their. Most of his report is questioning what to do within in the state of Virginia and how to hold the peace within the state as their was tension with the whites and blacks. He also states in his report he talks on the basis of having whites and blacks in the same jury box and having equal rights for blacks. He also states how the people act when he has to put in acts that Congress . He states that most of the people within the community are taking the laws well. But he knows that from within the community there are still enemies of the United States and has heard that of the horror stories of the South.
This in all honesty from the point of what the Major General is starting to describe within his state would be evidence against the book Redemption. Within this report it seems as that reconstruction was working within the state of Virginia. It seems that within the report the major general in not ignorant to the fact that the help of the army within the state is keeping the peace and protecting the Blacks from the white population. One thing that you dont hear is the interference of any of the old confederate veterans that would be fighting the United States in what they were trying to do to the South during reconstruction. Where Redemption had anything but peaceful time within the state of Mississippi. But in the same way with Redemption the basis in the struggle of the commanding officers and how they viewed their position in what they were suppossed to do as commanding officers in an army and not politicians in which they were forced to become. The major general tried to stay with democracy and said that he was going to do what the people asked him. Which comes as something difficult because he is ordered to do what Congress tells him not what the people do unless he sees Congress as the people and what they want.
In conclusion this shows a different side of the Reconstruction period in which there was peace in a state that was the capital of the Confederacy. One that you would think that there would be the most violent due to it being the center of the Confederacy. Maybe reconstruction within areas of the South werent as bad as some of those within the deep south such as Louisana, and Mississippi.
Reconstruction in virginia. (1867, Nov 13). New York Times (1857-1922). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/92331413?accountid=10628
I think this is very interesting because it seemed that Virginia was more of a "racist," for lack of a better word, place during the Civil War. I would like to read this article.
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