Summary
Highlights
Days after the Civil War ended on April 11, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln grappled with his first speech concerning Reconstruction. Despite widespread jubilation, Lincoln foresaw immense difficulties in reuniting the country, which was scarred by 600,000 deaths and the collapse of the modern world's largest slave system. He hinted at giving some black men the right to vote, a proposition that angered many, leading to his assassination three days later. The nation's reconstruction was then left to ordinary people facing a 'revolutionary chaotic situation.'
The Civil War devastated the South, which had been one of the wealthiest societies globally. Kate Stone's diary details the despair of Confederates, whose identities were tied to honor and independence, now reduced to a 'conquered, subjugated' state. Meanwhile, thousands of emancipated slaves flocked to General William Tecumseh Sherman's army in Savannah, seeing emancipation as a biblical deliverance. On January 11, 1865, General Sherman met with black ministers, including Reverend Garrison Frazier, who articulated the freedmen's desire for land—'forty acres and a mule'—to achieve self-sufficiency and true citizenship.
Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor, hailed from Tennessee and fiercely opposed secession but was no friend to black people's rights. He aimed for a 'rapid, lenient restoration of the Union' with minimal changes concerning black civil rights. Johnson pardoned most former Confederates, returning seized lands to planters, despite the expectations of many northerners for harsher policies. He believed that planters would keep African Americans 'under control,' effectively turning freedmen back into landless laborers. This policy, including the return of land promised under Sherman's Field Order 15, deeply disappointed and angered freed slaves.
Johnson's policies infuriated Radical Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens, who believed in a complete remaking of the South to ensure black political and civil liberty. While they were initially a 'fringe minority,' Johnson's perceived leniency and contempt for freedmen pushed many moderate Republicans into their camp. In the South, state legislatures enacted 'Black Codes' to control the freed population, prohibiting them from owning land, handling weapons, and effectively forcing them back into field labor. This system amounted to 'slavery without the chain,' outraging even moderate northerners and highlighting the deep betrayal of emancipation promises.
Marshall Twitchell, a Freedmen's Bureau agent in Louisiana, faced local resentment and complex social dynamics. His marriage to Adele Coleman, a 'southern girl,' despite her family's objections, highlighted the social upheaval and pragmatic alliances of the time. The marriage symbolized a new order where old Southern families sought connections with Yankee enterprise for survival, recognizing that 'everybody in the South was broke' and personal enrichment was a priority.
In December 1865, the 39th Congress convened, refusing to seat former Confederates who sought to reclaim political power. This marked the beginning of a fierce ideological battle over Reconstruction. Republicans, fueled by 'visceral hatreds' from the war, passed the Civil Rights Bill and proposed the 14th Amendment to establish a new definition of American nationality and citizenship, guaranteeing rights regardless of race. President Johnson vehemently opposed these measures, accusing Republicans of expanding federal power and denouncing their efforts.
Black political conventions across the South demanded suffrage, leading to increased tensions. The New Orleans riot on July 30, 1866, where a white mob attacked Republican delegates and black supporters, exposed the deadly violence against African Americans and their allies. This event, along with Johnson's disastrous 'swing around the circle' campaign, prompted a Republican landslide in the 1866 midterm elections. With a veto-proof majority, Radical Republicans implemented their plan in March 1867: the former Confederate states were divided into military districts, new constitutions had to be approved, and black men were granted the right to vote. This marked 'the first large-scale experiment in interracial democracy.'
With Radical Reconstruction, black men gained the right to vote, a 'remarkable leap in the dark' for global history. Tunis Campbell decided to run for office, as did Marshall Twitchell. The presence of black troops enforcing federal law deeply disturbed white Southerners, who viewed them as symbols of their greatest fears. White Southerners saw the Civil War as a defense of their constitutional rights and felt that the North had committed 'a perversion which was black equality.' Despite fervent calls from black newspapers for every black man to 'vote vote' and seize their rights as citizens, this period was met with deep-seated resentment and a 'guerrilla warfare' of social resistance from those unwilling to accept societal change.