Douglass reflecting on War and Recontruction

In an article he wrote for The Atlantic, December 16th, 1866 ed. famed abolitionist and writer Fredrick Douglass wrote an analysis of both the Civil War and Reconstruction from his own perspective. Douglass first begins by praising the Civil war as having been a heroic cause in and of itself. However, he quickly begins to question whether the war will go down in history as a great victory or as a miserable failure. to show this reasoning, he argues several points about the conditions the war has brought onto the south and whether society post war has changed at all. 

His first point is that the war has failed to reunite the nation, its original purpose. He argues that the South has not been fully reintegrated into the nation, but rather are treated as conquered territory, forced into an unequal position in the Union too which, quote, "an attempt to re-establish a Union by force . . . . must be the merest mockery of a Union." He then goes on to say that the last session of Congress (before the article was written) had not done anything to permanently solve the situation and determine whether the nation would be reunited fully or not. This reflects what we know about the period from class, as this tie period would be around the beginning of the long struggle between the radical Republicans that controlled Congress at the time and President Andrew Johnson, who was very pro-South and for leniency.

Next,  Douglass looked at the condition of the lives of the former slaves and found it lacking. he notes that their are still large discrepancies between how the freed slaves are treated and how the former white Southerners are treated. he notes the requirement of federal troops or other similar forces in an area in order to enforce federal mandates in the South, and how when not present the local black population is subject to abuses and reprisals and other mistreatment by the former white slave holders and ex-confederates. He even questions the usefulness of the then recently passed 13th and 14th amendments, believing them to be a step in the right direction but overall being far from solving the issues. He notes that, "no republic is safe that tolerates a privileged class, or denies any of its citizens equal rights and the equal means to maintain them. " This corresponds with what we have learned about the conditions and struggles  the freed former slave population faced, requiring federal troops or Union Leagues or other such groups in order to enforce federal legislation giving black citizens their rights, and how when troops moved on from such areas then the White Southern population was quick to revert to the former way of life and deny or refuse o enforce such legislation.

In the end, Douglass is unsure of how effective both the war and reconstruction will be in the long run. However, he fears it will be a failure unless more Federal support is provided to the Black population through more legislation and stronger enforcement of said legislation, and urges congress to not wait but act.

Address of a Convention of Negroes in Alexandria Virginia

The members of the Convention of Colored citizens of the State of Virginia met in August of 1865 to

discuss the new problems that were facing in the newly freed south. Even though the slaves were no

longer forced to work on plantations for their former masters the freedmen complained that they were

still not safe.  The convention cited the fact that there were now 200,000 colored troops in service of

US  a quote from an escaped confederate prisoner saying that whenever we saw a black face we felt

sure of a friend. The former slaves feared for their safety from the men who had controlled their lives

for so long. The convention asked why four fifths of the former rebels were all the sudden being

pardoned and amnestied. These men had taken vows  to the Union after the war but as the

Convention already knew the men who took these vows had no intentions of honoring the promised

they had made to the Federal Government.  The convention feared the legislature that would come

from these former confederates ever finding their way back into office. The convention asked for the

continued presence of the military in order to make sure that they would remain safe from the

enemies that were returning to the south. We know from our studies that the fears expressed by

the convention were accurate and the newly freed people of the south had little chance to do anything

without a military presence around at all times. While voting rights were enforced early on in the

south it did not take long for the persecution of freed blacks to begin all over again as soon as

military presence left the area. The Black codes were forced on the south leading to a hundred years

segregation and unfair legislation which would effectively eliminate any of the rights that the people

had been given shortly after the war. The many problems that the convention cited all would

eventually occur and the south would suffer for it.

Black Oppresion Continues After War Ends

Civil War America: Voices from the Home Front, by James Marten tells the history of the American Civil War from the Civilian viewpoint. Although published in 2003, this book is a collection of primary sources and first-hand quotes regarding life around the Civil War. It offers snippets of primary sources that tell what the people of the time were experiencing, but also gives insight from modern times to help better the readers’ understanding of the primary source. 

Booker T. Washington is quoted in discussing that he did not know he was a child of slavery until emancipation was on the horizon. Washington is famous for living through all of the difficulties freed slaves faced following their emancipation, including oppression by whites who thought they did not deserve rights and not having a set place as free people in society, and going on to create a successful education institution for blacks at Tuskegee, encouraging them to better themselves and therefore making an attempt to better white society’s opinion of them. 

The Freedman’s Bureau is referenced in discussion of freed people trying to reconnect with family members and loved ones they had been separated from through selling of slaves and events of the Civil War. When people began to reconnect there was a large increase in legal marriages among blacks, because this had not been previously legal, and therefore a surge in the black population. White Southerners were not pleased with this increase in black rights that was another motion toward equality among black and white citizens. Black Codes, along with white supremacist groups like the Klu Klux Klan went to great measures to reassert white power over former slaves.

Violence Starts Early in Texas

On the 7th of September in 1867 the Assistant Commissioner for the state of Texas wrote a letter to his commander detailing a list of incidences of violence and murder against the freed people in the State.  He considered it an honor that he has only be at his post for a little over a month since his commander first communicated with him.  He goes on to state that there is no official record for the many instances of murder in his county other than what he has done.  In his letter since his post he details that there has been four confirmed murders, one person missing suspected dead and one woman whose injuries are so severe she is expected to die.  He also states how that the attitude among the locals against "Yankee's" grows steadily worse and that he fears it will be unsafe to remain when troops are removed from the area.

His experience is not unique among military commanders across the South who worked with the freedmen's bureau.  It is clear upon looking at several of the sources that throughout the South the local population was not one of a broken spirit but one still in open rebellion.  In his report he states that the people responsible for the murders were always missing when he sent troops to capture them.  Yet he received reports that after the troops left that they would return to their dwellings and continue living their lives as they had been. This would not have been possible without a community willing on such a systematic level to warn the guilty, shelter them and then tell them when it was safe to return.

It was interesting that even as early as 1867 a mere two years after the end of the Civil War, that commanders in a far flung areas such as Texas could see that without troops their position and freedmen were unsustainable.  Violence was far flung and military commanders across the South were unable to effectively enforce laws or keep people safe due to Southern Whites and their campaign of murder and intimidation.

Source: http://www.freedmensbureau.com/texas/millicanoutrages.htm

Slave to Sharecropper: The Labor Contract of John Dawson

For our blog assignment I researched a primary source via pbs.org. I found a slave to sharecropper labor contract produced on January 18, 1879 in Parish Madison, Louisiana. The contract listed the first party as the Solid South which after reading is a company that hired former slaves to work the land that it had acquired. And the second party was John Dawson who was hired to work the land and produce cotton under the super vision of the Solid South. There were so many restraints on the Dawson but at the same time he essentially responsible for everything on the land. The stipulations of the work and care of the land they worked was very similar to slavery, as we discussed in class the contract was able to be invalidated at any point that the overseeing party felt like the tenant farmer was thought to be violating any form of the guidelines.

 In my opinion the contract and ones like it took advantage of the illiteracy and lack of finances of former slaves who were already struggling to find jobs and a stable living environment for their families, the contract was written in a way that it indentured blacks and gave the primary power to white land owners. As the contract goes on to list the responsibilities it clarifies that the working tenant is responsible for the up keep of the 15 acres that are to be farmed, as well the bridges and fences etc. on the property, and are financially bound to pay back any loans that Solid South gives them. Including the repayment for the two mules and plow machine. Sharecropping contracts in the south were just a signed document of slavery by the two parties involved. This particular contract made the former slaves sign away their rights to any of the homestead and exemption laws that were in place in Louisiana. They were left with no rights still poor and they once again had to depend white land holders.

As previously stated I found this source on PBS reconstruction and the second civil war/primary sources. I read the words printed in the document while the actual document itself is being kept at the LSU Shreveport in the Noel Memorial Library Archives and it is a part of the Hutchinson family papers

A former Slave's experience of Reconstruction..

My Primary source is a former slave, Henry Adams, speaking to the Senate 15 years later, in 1880, about the unfair treatment the African Americans experienced through Reconstruction and the corrupt share cropping system they experienced.  He says that the white people read a document saying all of the colored people were free, but his owner told him that the white people were angry with the Negros and were “killing them for fun”.  He tells Henry that it would be best for them to stay with their old masters, where they could have protection.  Henry refused to sign a contract, but he says everyone else on his plantation did, except him and a boy named Samuel Jefferson.  He covers how they farmed and received absolutely nothing for their work with cotton, and he says they never got a cent for splitting rails.  He says they got only got enough potatoes, corn, and molasses to eat.  Not only were they screwed out of their earnings, he tells the story of going to the house and asking where the “boss” was.  That the white woman said he should be addressed as Master and said none of them were truly free.  He tells the story of the white woman in church beating his sister with a stick, and when the white man got home, him beating her nearly to death.  He said the contracts said he was not supposed to be allowed to hit anyone of the blacks anymore.  The next day, Henry recalls that him and a group of ten or eleven others decided to leave.  He had a horse and some money, but says a group of white men started shooting at them.  When they caught up with them, they took his horse and took all of the clothes they had, and said they threatened that they would kill any nigger trying to leave their masters.  Henry also says that a man and his wife were not allowed to live together.  Henry says that to his knowledge, between Shreveport and Logansport, over 2,000 colored people were killed trying to leave for freedom after the white people told them they were free in 1865.  His recollection of the events shows the massive failure of the United States government to protected blacks during Reconstruction.  They were still forced to work for next to nothing, they were still beaten and even killed for disobedience, and they were not truly allowed to be free.  We said that many hit the rode, but according to Henry, his group was not even allowed to leave.  They were taken advantage of and still treated like slaves, the owners even said as much.  This is just evidence of the failures of Reconstruction, it truly was the last battle of the Civil War and the Confederates won.  They were allowed to continue to treat black people like slaves and not grant them their unalienable rights.  This shows the ineffectiveness of United States’ policies when it comes to protecting blacks in Reconstruction. 

Circular No. 3 - General Rufus Saxton
Abandoned Lands and Freedmen FarmersMay 22, 1865
    In reading through this circular, it becomes very evident that during the early stages of reconstruction, many of the freedmen in states of former rebellion were merely trying to survive. Using lands that were abandoned by their former owners made the most logical sense, as it was the most fertile, well maintained, not to mention the fact that many of the newly freedmen knew the land as well, if not better than those who owned it previously. This circular gives the newly freedmen shelter and grounds to at least be able to finish their current year's harvest, or it allows returning owners the right to purchase the harvest in its entirety from the refugees/freedmen. Basically, it makes sure that the people cultivating the crops, don't end up with nothing to show for their labors. What this circular also states, is that no freedmen with age, or affliction may be removed from a property until the federal government can provide them with an equal alternative.
    Survival of the refugees and freedmen during this time is what was paramount. No different than in other times where there were countless refugees and displaced peoples. The point I make is that we as a humans need to realize and help those in less fortunate situations than ourselves, especially here in our own country. Before we as a nation go out to solve all the rest of the worlds problems, we need to fix our own, charity starts at home. This has been an ongoing issue for the American people as a whole, from civil rights and liberties of former slaves, through today with the questioning of the legality of same sex marriage. These people are just as much American as any other, they were bred, born, and raised here, they have the same unalienable rights as anyone else, whether they be black, white, Latino, gay, straight, transsexual etc. We must be able to set aside our differences, and look at the bigger picture in order to survive as nation.
 

Frederick Douglass's artile "Protection of the Ballot"

The primary source i found is a book Voices from the Reconstruction Years 1865-1877 by Glenn M. Linden, filled with recordings of letters, newspaper articles, and diary entries from people from 1865 through 1877. I chose to look at the article published by Fredrick Douglass in 1872 where he talks about the deterioration of black enfranchisement in the south at the time. In this Article he talks about the need for protection of black voters in order to preserve their newly acquired right to vote. Douglass specifies his opposition to swaying the voters ballot choice by means of this armed protection and to allow everyone to vote the way they please. Showing his unbiased opinion he states that republican should not interfere with democrats votes anymore than democrats should control republican votes. appealing to both sides he cites that both benefit from this and that no injury will come from allowing the other party to vote the way they please. Clearly Douglass has one thing on his mind, the advancement of black people in America. He would rather see the political battlefield even as opposed to his own Republican views lifted above the Democrats in order to preserve suffrage for his people. He calls out the government saying that they must protect all citizen rights in order to stay away from being a tyrannical monarchy. Douglass creates a common theme for both Republicans and Democrats to look at and desire as an attempt to repair the rift that has been created by the civil war and the oppression of the south. Though this could be considered selling out to the Democrats the ideas he sets in place are truly what the constitution of the United States calls for. its what the new amendments to the constitution call for: equal protection under the law, the right for citizens to vote uncontested. It takes someone who has had their citizenship for less than ten years to bring forth the selfless ambition that should be embodied by the government. Fredrick Douglass truly shows his wisdom in this article as well as his resolve for his cause.

Freedmens Bureau List of Outrages Perpetrated by the Whites Upon The Freedmen in the State of Tennessee from April 1865 to March 1866

After spending a few hours browsing the web for various sources that dealt with the experiences of freed blacks after emancipation, I ran across this list on the Freedman's Bureau website. This list is a primary source that has been digitized on their website that dates back from April 1865 to March 1865. The source is a list that was produced by the Freedmen's Bureau. It describes various incidents in which violence was perpetrated against freed blacks in Tennessee, typically by white southerners. One of the first incidents that the list outlines occured in April of 1865, when freed black Gilbert Mcgee was assaulted and killed while plowing a field. The Freedmen's Bureau identified the killers as both white males named Thomas Perry and James Morton. The two assaulted Mcgee, took him to a nearby plantation in Gallatin, Tennessee. He was whipped, executed by pistol, and later decapitated. I feel this incident, as described by the Freedmen's Bureau, signifies the lingering threat of violence against freed blacks in the south, that persisted even after emancipation. Freed, former slaves, often relied on the trade skills they had acquired during enslavement as a means of economic sustainability after they were freed. Freed blacks utilized their agricultural skills to become farmers and planters. This example evidences two unfortunate points about the experiences of freedmen after emancipation. First, it shows that although legally free from the bondage of slavery, freed blacks had no guarantee of safety. Emancipation didn't simply put and end to the mistreatment of blacks, and in fact, it often times inspired the likelihood that violence would be incurred against freedmen. The former landed white aristocracy that controlled the local economies of the south held negative sentiments towards the freed black population after emancipation, because freedom of the slave population had resulted in the loss of an economically viable labor source that had ran the agricultural industry in the south for decades. These negative sentiments often played into the motives behind these random and vicious attacks against freedmen. The second point that this incident demonstrates is that freedmen were often put into difficult situations by working in a free labor farm system after emancipation. All of the ruling institutions that formerly controlled the enslaved labor systems, also controlled the free labor agricultural industry for freedmen after their emancipation. The fact that Mcgee's death occured on a plantation only furthers the point that the industry of farm labor was no safe place for freedmen to make a living in after emancipation.

source:     http://www.freedmensbureau.com/tennessee/outrages/tennoutrages1.htm

When doing research on particular subject, there is no better source to go to than the subject itself. I spent a good chunk of time researching the life of slaves in a post emancipation proclamation society. Many of the primary sources I found were letters from slaves to family members and were very difficult to read and fully understand. One source I found was a collection and discussion of interviews that had been conducted with ex-slaves in the 1930s by the Works Project Administration(WPA). Many of these interviews, in fact over 700, were with slaves from Arkansas. It discussed how many slaves had found freedom a fairly easy and quick thing to adapt to but others did not.

One such ex-slave whose transition from a life of slavery to freedom was not as easy as some, was a man by the name of Jake Goodridge. He served under a Confederate military leader until he was captured by Federal forces near the end of the war. Once the war ended, the Federal troops who had taken him from his Confederate master simply left him by himself in Arkansas alone in foreign territory rather than return him to his home state of Tennessee. As he recalled the situation, “I didn’t know what to do…that was the big freedom to us colored folks. That the way white folks fightin’ do the colored folks.” Men like Jake Goodridge were what led to the creation of the Freedman’s Bureau in 1865.

The source also discussed working conditions for black Americans in a post slavery society. The need for cotton was high and skilled farm workers were in high demand, many of the former slaves returned to the fields and worked with better treatment and pay. Some ex-slaves even stayed and worked for their former masters. This last point was interesting to me because I know if I was in that situation I would want nothing to do with someone like that. I would have tried to work in a different place so the fact many slaves remained where they were was interesting. That was one point that stuck out to me personally. I was really surprised so many did that.