The Sequel of Appomattox: A Chronicle of the Reunion of the StatesFleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
History
The Sequel of Appomattox: A Chronicle of the Reunion of the States
Fleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877); United States -- History -- 1865-1898
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account