(Benedict, 1973, p. 1)
Americans were ill equipped to cope with the problem effectively. By 1865 most Northerners, particularly Republicans, had come to identify security for the Union with concrete, fundamental change in southern society, particularly in black & white relations. Most important, Republicans insisted upon protection for former slaves in their new freedom. Yet these same Northerners, including Republicans, displayed a remarkable reluctance to force these changes on the South through the power of the national government. At first many Republicans hoped Southerners themselves would inaugurate the necessary changes voluntarily, but it quickly became apparent that even modest change in southern society, beyond the eradication of slavery would require the national action so many Northerners wanted to avoid. But further complications arose in the person of the seventeenth president of the United States, Andrew Johnson. If the critical importance of Reconstruction for the security of the nation provided the kindling for the impeachment crisis, it was the torch of Andrew Johnson's personal character that ignited the flame. (Benedict, 1973, p. 3)
The Radical Republican Vision
The key issues of Reconstruction involved how the national government would define its relationship to the defeated Confederate states and the former slaves. The South had been thoroughly defeated and its economy lay in ruins. The presence of Union troops further embittered white Southerners. But the bitterest pill was the changed status of African-Americans whose freedom seemed an affront to white supremacy. ("The politics of Reconstruction," n.d., p. 89)
During his life, Lincoln had promoted a plan that authorized amnesty for those swearing an oath of allegiance. Once 10% of a Confederate state's voters registered their oaths they could establish a state government. Arkansas and Louisiana met this criterion, but congressional radicals pushed for a harsher stance. They pushed through a bill that would fundamentally transform southern society, though Lincoln killed it with a pocket veto. Redistribution of land posed another thorny issue. Many former slaves had worked on abandoned plantations, leased to northern investors. General Sherman had settled others on 40-acre plots. Congress had created the Freedman's Bureau to help with the transition to freedom and had passed the Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery. But an assassin's bullet ended Lincoln's role in Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson, the new president, was a War Democrat from Tennessee. He had used harsh language to describe southern "traitors" but blamed individuals rather than the entire South for secession. While Congress was not in session he granted amnesty to most Confederates. Initially, wealthy landholders and members of the political elite had been excluded. But Johnson pardoned most of them. Johnson appointed provisional governors who organized new governments. By December, Johnson claimed that "restoration" was virtually complete. A lifelong Democrat, Johnson sympathized with his fellow white southerners and was committed to white supremacy. ("The politics of Reconstruction," n.d., p. 89)
Carpetbaggers
Carpetbaggers was a name given to those Northerners who went South during reconstruction, motivated in part by profit and/or idealism. The name refers to the clothing bags that were used by most to transport his or her goods. Despite the name there were many carpetbaggers that were sincere in wanting to aid in the freedom and education of previous slaves. Carpetbaggers came to Louisiana during the war and especially after the slaves had been declared free. Members of Union regiments who had served in the South were captivated by the glowing economic prospects of growing cotton. Cotton growth increasingly had provided the foundation for the southern economy before the war, and economic realities assured its continued dominance. The land would be worked and new crops planted. Antebellum creditors hoped to see their debts paid by new loans and new crops. (Ashkenazi, 1988, p. 27)
The well-educated, bourgeois carpetbaggers who sought to improve on the plantation economy as run by planters did not do any better. In contrast stands the community of Jewish rural merchants who succeeded without special interest in controlling land, an aim of the carpetbaggers. Merchants, with some exceptions, stuck to the business they knew, stocking a store with merchandise to be exchanged for cotton or a debt to be...
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