Although the
former Confederate states had reconstructed themselves under
President Andrew Johnson’s guidelines, many Northerners did not
want to see them reenter the Union so quickly and easily.
Republicans were particularly concerned by the attitudes
expressed and actions taken by Southerners while submitting to
Presidential Reconstruction. Even though all the former
Confederate states had abolished slavery in their new
constitutions and most had ratified the Thirteenth Amendment,
they had done so with obvious reluctance.
Furthermore, the newly elected state legislatures had enacted
laws restricting the rights and freedoms of blacks in the South.
These “Black Codes” (similar to “Slave Codes”) varied from state
to state, but included requiring proof of employment, limiting
jobs opportunities, prohibiting property rights in or migration
to certain (usually urban) areas, banning the carrying of
weapons in public, barring jury duty or court testimony against
whites, and withholding voting and office-holding rights.
A
cartoon by Thomas Nast in the August 5,
1865, issue of Harper’s Weekly depicted Miss Columbia
lamenting that she had to pardon ex-Rebels such as Confederate
General Robert E. Lee (bowing in the foreground) and Confederate
Vice President Alexander Stephens (holding the pardon petition),
while not allowing a wounded black Union veteran the right to
vote.
In the June 10, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly, editor
George William Curtis
warned that “black laws”
passed by the Tennessee State House of Representatives revealed
“that the spirit of slavery does exist,” despite the
abolition of the institution. Although the measures were
defeated in the Tennessee State Senate, Curtis rightly predicted
that the other Southern states would follow the Tennessee
House’s lead by enacting Black Codes that reduced the newly
freed people “to a condition of serfdom.” The editor pointed
out that the true majority of the people in those states
consisted not of the former disloyal whites, who had been
granted voting rights under Presidential Reconstruction, but of
blacks. “It is curious to see how the dominance of slavery in
this country has destroyed our perceptions of the simplest
facts.”
As an example of racism corroding truth, Curtis
singled out The New York Times for its unthinking
exclusion of blacks as part of “the people.” In doing so,
The Times reinforced the prejudice that the American
government “was made by white men for white men.” The
Harper’s Weekly editor concluded by emphasizing “that
Congress is constitutionally bound [by Article IV, Section IV]
to secure a republican form of government to each State.”
In April and November 1865, respectively, a
cartoon and
illustration in Harper’s Weekly
corroborated editor Curtis’s point that blacks should be
considered part of the American people. In particular, the
images focused on the sacrifices made for the Union by black
soldiers during the recently ended Civil War. An
article in the November 11, 1865 issue revealed how the
absence of black participation in the early Reconstruction
process in Louisiana meant that the competition for votes was
limited to two racist political parties in the state. The
National Democratic Party in Louisiana claimed that government
should be for whites only, and sought financial compensation for
the loss in property value from the abolition of slavery. The
National Conservative Union in the state opposed political
equality for “the African.”
Northerners were also disturbed by the election of former
Confederate leaders to local, state, and national office, a
consequence of which was intimidation and violence against
blacks and white Unionists living under those Southern
governments. The lead
editorial in the October
21, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly began by noting that
ex-Confederate General Benjamin Humphreys, “an unpardoned
rebel,” had been elected governor of Mississippi (on October
2). “Meanwhile… the colored people are daily murdered and Union
men maltreated, and nobody is punished or arrested.” Editor
Curtis then reported similar threats to democratic government
and public safety in other states where former Confederates had
also reclaimed political power: Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama,
and South Carolina. He quoted a correspondent from Mobile,
Alabama, who observed, “The various offices here … are full of
bitter rebels, and they openly boast of their Confederate
proclivities.” The editor ended by criticizing the suggestion
of General Henry Slocum, who had retired as Union military
commander in Mississippi on September 28, 1865, that the federal
government should end its control of that state.
The most conspicuous instance of a former high-ranking
Confederate elected during Presidential Reconstruction was
Alexander Stephens of Georgia, the former vice president of the
Confederate States of America. The
December 30, 1865
issue of
Harper’s Weekly reported that the new
Georgia state legislature had postponed its selection of a U.S.
senator in order to await President Johnson’s pardon of
Stephens. Although Johnson had released Stephens from jail in
October 1865, the president did not subsequently pardon him.
Nevertheless, in February 1866, the Georgia legislature selected
the unpardoned Stephens to represent the state in the U.S.
Senate. A
biographical sketch
of Stephens in the
May 5, 1866 issue of Harper’s Weekly associated him with
John C. Calhoun’s state sovereignty view, which had been used to
justify secession.
Because of the stated problems resulting from the dominance
of ex-Confederates in the state governments reconstructed under
President Johnson’s authority, Republicans became hesitant about
Congress recognizing the governments by seating their elected
federal representatives. In the lead editorial of the
November 4, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly, editor Curtis used a
natural rights argument to support such caution.
Governments should be based on “the consent of the governed; and
we hold that every political community being morally bound to
defend all the natural rights of its individual members should
impose no qualification for an equal voice in the government
which excludes any great number of them or which may not be
readily attained by all.” Curtis refused to apology for being
“averse to haste, and advise the utmost care, and prudence, and
sagacity in the work of reorganization.”
As
Congress prepared to convene on December 4, 1865, the clerk of
the House, Edward McPherson,
announced that he
would not recognize representatives elected from the former
Confederate states. His position was based primarily on a
congressional act of July 1862, which required congressmen to
swear an oath that they had never actively participated against
the United States government. The House
upheld
his action. In the
lead editorial of the December
2, 1865 issue of Harper’s Weekly, George William Curtis
expressed his approval. The editor argued that such a policy
prevented one person (the clerk) from deciding that the former
Confederate states had reached a stage where they could rejoin
the loyal states on an equal basis to legislate for the nation.
Furthermore, Curtis asserted that Southern insistence on quick
and easy reentry into Congress should be a warning: “The spirit
which was baffled in the rebellion will seek to achieve its ends
by political alliances and intrigues.” He repeated concerns
about the treatment of Union men and blacks in the South. The
editor was confident that Congress would act to secure the
rights of blacks because “it is equally plain that the freedmen
can not be honorably left by us to the local State
legislation.” A
cartoon in the next week’s issue
depicted House Clerk McPherson denying a seat to a Southern
congressman-elect. |
1) August 5, 1865, pp. 488-489
cartoon, “Pardon/Franchise”
2) June 10, 1865, p. 355, c. 1-2
editorial, “A Warning from
Tennessee”
3) April 22, 1865, p. 256, c. 1-2
cartoon, “A Man Knows a
Man”
4) November 11, 1865, p. 712
illustration, “The True
Defenders of the Constitution”
5) November 11, 1865, pp. 717
illustrated articles, “Governor
Wells and Louisiana Politics”
6) October 21, 1865, p. 658, c. 1-2
editorial, “State of
Feeling at the South”
7) December 30, 1865, p. 819, c. 3
“Domestic Intelligence”
column
8)
May 5, 1866, pp. 276-277
article, “Alexander H.
Stephens,” and portrait (p. 276) by William S. L. Jewett from a photography by
Mathew Brady
9) November 4, 1865, p. 690, c. 1-2
editorial,
“Reorganization”
10) November 11, 1865, p. 707, c. 4
“Domestic Intelligence”
column
11) December 16, 1865, p. 787, c. 3
“Domestic Intelligence”
column
12) December 2, 1865, p. 754, c. 1-2
editorial, “Securing
Peace”
13)
December 9, 1865, p. 781
cartoon, “No Accommodations!”
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