SUMMARY

Mr. Lincoln, who was disposed to deal kindly with the conquered South, was assassinated. He was succeeded in office by Andrew Johnson. President Johnson offended some of the leading men of his party, and they opposed his efforts to restore order and government in the South. Led by Stevens and Sumner, Congress refused to let Southern senators and representatives take their seats in that body. This was the beginning of oppression which brought more ruin and distress than the war itself. The South was put under military control, and unjust State constitutions were forced upon the people. An enormous debt was piled up by legislatures composed of carpet-baggers and scalawags. The evils produced by the Freedmen's Bureau and the Loyal Leagues were in a measure checked by the Ku Klux Klan. Assisted by a few Northerners of character, the patriotic and intelligent people of the South finally succeeded in restoring law and order.

QUESTIONS

1. What was Mr. Lincoln's attitude to the conquered South? 2. When, where, and by whom was he assassinated? 3. What reward was offered by President Johnson, and to whom was it paid? 4. Describe conditions in the South at the close of the war. 5. What was President Johnson's attitude to the South, and by whom was he opposed? 6. Give an account of the constitutional convention of 1865; of the legislature of 1865. 7. Who secured the appointment of the "reconstruction committee,” and what was the substance of the resolution creating it? 8. Give an account of the strife between President Johnson and Congress. 9. What do you understand by "military rule"? 10. By whom was the constitution of 1868 framed, and how was it forced on the State? 11. What class of men were carpet-baggers? scalawags? 12. What evils were due to the Freedmen's Bureau and the Loyal Leagues? 13. Mention some of the ways in which the South was oppressed. 14. Sketch the history of the Ku Klux Klan. 15. Give an account of the overthrow of Federal rule.

CHAPTER XXI

THE NEGROES

1. Effects of Civilization.-The ten millions of negroes in the United States place a great responsibility on the government. In the earliest history of the country ships from Africa were unloading savage negroes upon American shores to be sold into slavery and to be schooled in the arts of peace. Whatever may have been the evils of slavery, contact with white masters and their families has been the most civilizing and uplifting influence that ever came to the negroes in all the ages. Booker Washington has said: "We went into slavery pagans, we came out Christians; we went into slavery a piece of property, we came out American citizens; we went into slavery without a language, we came out speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon tongue."

2. Master and Slave.-Business and humanity combined to make masters kind to their negroes and regardful of their welfare. The conduct of the negroes during the War between the States proves their love and devotion to the whites,-a love too strong to have grown out of bad treatment. The old slaves protected and supported the white women and children while the white men were away in the armies. There was no fear of insurrection. Masters trusted the negroes and the negroes proved equal to the trust.

The changed condition of master and slave at the close of the war was, in the main, gracefully accepted by both races. The tender ties that bound them were too strong to be broken by any orders of men or nations. The old plantation left its sweet memories in the hearts of both whites and blacksmemories so deeply implanted that the misguided

Sunday Afternoon on a Southern Plantation

efforts of politicians, pulpits, magazines, and newspapers have failed to destroy them. The affections of the older generation will hold until death, and the younger generation will not wholly forget the record and courtesies of the olden time.

The South was strictly an agricultural region, and negro labor was needful to the raising of crops. When the war closed, various methods were adopted

to induce this class of labor to remain on the farms and till the fields. Lands were rented to some; wages in cash or a portion of the crops were given to others. The white masters and former slaves were thus thrown into daily contact, and they attended to business and moved in perfect friendship despite the interference of selfish politicians and Bureau agents. Now and then some negro of bold and desperate spirit would kill or get killed, but the general good feeling usually restrained the fiercer elements.

3. The Negro Misled.-Had none but the brave soldiers of the Federal armies come to the South just after the war, it is probable that the whites and negroes would have continued to work together for common good. Most of the best soldiers, however, preferred to go to their homes and be with their families. Many of those who came South were hirelings who had nothing special to do at the North; others were not true soldiers, but men who wore the soldier's uniform and had followed the army in the hope of getting plunder. Some who did not pretend to be soldiers came with the expectation of getting rich by dishonest means. These newcomers and the agents of the Freedmen's Bureau spread reports throughout the North that the negroes were being cruelly treated in the South. They soon had the negroes joining the Loyal League and forming the Black Man's party. They even made the blacks believe that the property of the Southern whites would be divided out among them. By these methods the negroes were aroused against their former masters.

1873

to 1882

1874

1882

In his blindness and gladness the negro joined with those who misled him in order to get his vote. He yielded to the temptations of politics,* and expected the general government to supply his wants, to give him "forty acres of land and a mule." Idleness, vagrancy, crime, insults, injury, and threats followed.

4. Jack Turner as a Leader.-One of the most violent clashes between the blacks and the whites occurred in Choctaw county. Jack Turner, a servant of Mr. B. L. Turner, became a leader among the negroes. Discovering his popularity and influence, politicians told him that he could be a great help to their plans and that he could make money by serving them. Thus flattered and encouraged, he got into fusses with the whites and often defied the laws. He was finally brought before the courts on many charges and was in most cases convicted.

During the political canvass of 1874, Jack defied the sheriff and put himself at the head of a number of armed friends and marched to Butler, the county seat. Being met by a body of armed whites, Jack and his party scattered for safety in the creek swamp.

In 1882, papers were found near De Sotoville which were said to be minutes of negro meetings

*A distinguished Georgian said of the enfranchisement of the negro: "It took the Almighty forty years to train the Israelites for citizenship after their Egyptian bondage, but the United States Congress had, by securing the passage of the fourteenth amendment, assumed to convert in an instant millions of ignorant negroes into citizens of this republic."