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  RECONSTRUCTION

  VOICES FROM AMERICA’S

  FIRST GREAT STRUGGLE

  FOR RACIAL EQUALITY

  Brooks D. Simpson, editor

  LIBRARY OF AMERICA E-BOOK CLASSICS

  Volume compilation, introduction, notes, and chronology copyright © 2018 by

  Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., New York, N.Y.

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  Distributed to the trade in the United States

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939512

  e-ISBN 978-1-59583-563-1

  The Library of America—303

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Reconstruction:

  Voices from America’s First Great Struggle

  for Racial Equality

  is published with support from

  WILLIAM R. BERKLEY

  and

  THE BERKLEY FAMILY FOUNDATION

  Contents

  Introduction

  PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION, 1865–1866

  Frederick Douglass: What the Black Man Wants, January 26, 1865

  “Do nothing with us!”: Massachusetts, January 1865

  Abraham Lincoln: Speech on Reconstruction, April 11, 1865

  Washington, D.C., April 1865

  Springfield Republican: Restoration of the Union, April 20, 1865

  Forgiving rebels: Massachusetts, April 1865

  Andrew Johnson: Interview with Pennsylvania Delegation, May 3, 1865

  “Treason is a crime”: Washington, D.C., May 1865

  Colored Men of North Carolina to Andrew Johnson, May 10, 1865

  Muskets and Ballots: North Carolina, May 1865

  Andrew Johnson: Reply to a Delegation of Colored Ministers, May 11, 1865

  “Liberty to work”: Washington, D.C., May 1865

  Salmon P. Chase to Andrew Johnson, May 12, 1865

  Three classes of white citizens: North Carolina, May 1865

  Joseph Noxon to Andrew Johnson, May 27, 1865

  The necessity of black suffrage: New York, May 1865

  Delegation of Kentucky Colored People to Andrew Johnson, June 9, 1865

  “Most inhuman laws”: Washington, D.C., June 1865

  Charles C. Soule and Oliver O. Howard: An Exchange, June 12 and 21, 1865

  False ideas of freedom: South Carolina, June 1865

  Richard Henry Dana: Speech at Boston, June 21, 1865

  “The grasp of war”: Massachusetts, June 1865

  Charles Sumner to Gideon Welles, July 4, 1865

  “Shame & disaster”: Massachusetts, July 1865

  Wendell Phillips to the National Anti-Slavery Standard, July 8, 1865

  The Danger of Rebels in Congress: Massachusetts, July 1865

  Francis Preston Blair to Andrew Johnson, August 1, 1865

  “The white race alone”: Maryland, August 1865

  Colored People of Mobile to Andrew J. Smith, August 2, 1865

  Defending “pure freedom”: Alabama, August 1865

  Jourdon Anderson to P. H. Anderson, August 7, 1865

  “Send us our wages”: Ohio, August 1865

  Carl Schurz to Andrew Johnson, August 29, 1865

  Lawlessness and Disloyalty: Mississippi, August 1865

  Christopher Memminger to Andrew Johnson, September 4, 1865

  “Indentures of apprenticeship”: North Carolina, September 1865

  Thaddeus Stevens: Speech at Lancaster, September 6, 1865

  Confiscating rebel estates: Pennsylvania, September 1865

  Georges Clemenceau to Le Temps, September 28, 1865

  “The question of negro suffrage”: New York, September 1865

  George L. Stearns: Interview with President Johnson, October 3, 1865

  “We must be patient”: Washington, D.C., October 1865

  Andrew Johnson: Speech to the 1st U.S. Colored Infantry, Washington, D.C., October 10, 1865

  Washington, D.C., October 1865

  Sarah Whittlesey to Andrew Johnson, October 12, 1865

  “A lying, lazy people”: Virginia, October 1865

  Edisto Island Freedmen to Andrew Johnson, October 28, 1865

  “The only true and Loyal people”: South Carolina, October 1865

  J. A. Williamson to Nathan A. M. Dudley, October 30, 1865

  Fear of armed freedmen: Tennessee, October 1865

  Address of the Colored State Convention to the People of South Carolina, November 24, 1865

  Claiming the rights of citizenship: South Carolina, November 1865

  Andrew J. Hamilton to Andrew Johnson, November 27, 1865

  Prospects for the State Convention: Texas, November 1865

  Sidney Andrews: from The South Since the War

  Travels in the Carolinas and Georgia: September–December 1865

  Carl Schurz: from Report on the Condition of the South

  “Submission to necessity”: Washington, D.C., December 1865

  Ulysses S. Grant to Andrew Johnson, December 18, 1865

  “Such universal acquiescence”: Washington, D.C., December 1865

  Lewis Hayden: from Caste among Masons

  “The Pharaoh of our day”: Massachusetts, December 1865

  Harriet Jacobs to The Freedman, January 9 and 19, 1866

  Destitution Among the Freed People: Georgia, January 1866

  Marcus S. Hopkins to James Johnson, January 15, 1866

  “Insane malice against the freedman”: Virginia, January 1866

  Andrew Johnson and Frederick Douglass: An Exchange, and Reply of the Colored Delegation to President Johnson, February 7, 1866

  Debating Suffrage: Washington, D.C., February 1866

  Joseph S. Fullerton to Andrew Johnson, February 9, 1866

  Objections to the Freedmen’s Bureau: Washington, D.C., February 1866

  Andrew Johnson: Veto of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, February 19, 1866

  Washington, D.C., February 1866

  Andrew Johnson: Speech on Washington�
��s Birthday, February 22, 1866

  Washington, D.C., February 1866

  Andrew Johnson: Veto of the Civil Rights Bill, March 27, 1866

  Washington, D.C., March 1866

  CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION, 1866–1869

  Maria F. Chandler to Thaddeus Stephens, April 1, 1866

  Suffrage for Women: West Virginia, April 1866

  Harper’s Weekly: Radicalism and Conservatism, April 21, 1866

  Defining Radicalism: New York, April 1866

  Thaddeus Stevens: Speech in Congress on the Fourteenth Amendment, May 8, 1866

  “Accept what is possible”: Washington, D.C., May 1866

  Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: Speech at the National Woman’s Rights Convention, May 10, 1866

  “We are all bound up together”: New York, May 1866

  George Stoneman to Ulysses S. Grant, May 12, 1866

  The Memphis Riot: Tennessee, May 1866

  The New York Times: An Hour With Gen. Grant, May 24, 1866

  Southern “Rights”: Washington, D.C., May 1866

  Elihu B. Washburne to Thaddeus Stevens, May 24, 1866

  “Butcheries and Atrocities”: Tennessee, May 1866

  Cynthia Townsend: Testimony to House Select Committee, May 30, 1866

  “They all fired at her”: Tennessee, May 1866

  Joint Resolution Proposing the Fourteenth Amendment, June 13, 1866

  Washington, D.C., June 1866

  Oliver P. Morton: from Speech at Indianapolis, June 20, 1866

  Treason and the Democrats: Indiana, June 1866

  Philip H. Sheridan to Ulysses S. Grant, August 1 and 2, 1866

  The New Orleans Riot: Louisiana, August 1866

  Harper’s Weekly: The Massacre in New Orleans

  The President’s Responsibility: New York, August 1866

  Andrew Johnson: Speech at St. Louis, September 8, 1866

  Missouri, September 1866

  Thaddeus Stevens: Speech at Lancaster, September 27, 1866

  “Congress is the sovereign power”: Pennsylvania, September 1866

  Frederick Douglass: Reconstruction, December 1866

  “Let there be no hesitation”: December 1866

  Thaddeus Stevens: Speech in Congress on Reconstruction, January 3, 1867

  “No nearer to a true Republic”: Washington, D.C., January 1867

  Mobile Daily Advertiser and Register: No Amendment—Stand Firm, January 9, 1867

  “Spurning self-degradation”: Alabama, January 1867

  Albion W. Tourgée: To the Voters of Guilford, October 21, 1867

  “An Oligarchy or a Republic?”: North Carolina, October 1867

  Harper’s Weekly: Impeachment, December 14, 1867

  “Doubtful grounds”: New York, December 1867

  Albion W. Tourgée: The Reaction, January 4, 1868

  Republican timidity: North Carolina, January 1868

  New-York Tribune: The President Must Be Impeached, February 24, 1868

  “Absolute and despotic power”: New York, February 1868

  Thaddeus Stevens: Speech in Congress on Impeachment, February 24, 1868

  “His wicked determination”: Washington, D.C., February 1868

  Bossier Banner: White Men to the Rescue!

  The New State Constitution: Louisiana, March 1868

  The Nation: The Result of the Trial, May 21, 1868

  The President’s Acquittal: New York, May 1868

  Frank P. Blair to James O. Broadhead, June 30, 1868

  Overthrowing Reconstruction: Washington, D.C., June 1868

  Frederick Douglass: The Work Before Us, August 27, 1868

  Electing Grant: August 1868

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Gerrit Smith on Petitions, January 14, 1869

  “Universal Suffrage”: New York, January 1869

  Joint Resolution Proposing the Fifteenth Amendment, February 27, 1869

  Washington, D.C., February 1869

  “LET US HAVE PEACE,” 1869–1873

  Ulysses S. Grant: First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1869

  Washington, D.C., March 1869

  Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony: Exchange on Suffrage, May 12, 1869

  “The question of precedence”: New York, May 1869

  Mark Twain: Only a Nigger. The Buffalo Express, August 26, 1869

  A Lynching in Tennessee: New York, August 1869

  Georges Clemenceau to Le Temps, November 3, 1869

  “Struggle for their existence”: France, November 1869

  The New York Times: Reconstruction Nationalized, February 21, 1870

  “It secures political equality”: New York, February 1870

  William W. Holden to Ulysses S. Grant, March 10, 1870

  A Klan Insurrection: North Carolina, March 1870

  Ulysses S. Grant: Message to Congress on the Fifteenth Amendment, March 30, 1870

  “The greatest civil change”: Washington, D.C., March 1870

  Albion W. Tourgée to Joseph C. Abbott, May 24, 1870

  Klan Terrorism: North Carolina, May 1870

  Robert K. Scott to Ulysses S. Grant, October 22, 1870

  “Inhuman and brutal outrages”: South Carolina, October 1870

  Horace Greeley and Robert Brown Elliott: Exchange on Amnesty, March 16–17, 1871

  “Their evil example”: New York and Washington, D.C., March 1871

  Joseph H. Rainey: Speech in Congress on the Enforcement Bill, April 1, 1871

  Protecting Rights: Washington, D.C., April 1871

  James A. Garfield: from Speech in Congress on the Enforcement Bill, April 4, 1871

  Preserving Local Government: Washington, D.C., April 1871

  Maria Carter: Testimony to the Joint Select Committee, Atlanta, Georgia, October 21, 1871

  The Murder of John Walthall: Georgia, April 1871

  Horace Greeley: Reply to Committee of the Liberal Republican Convention, May 20, 1872

  Accepting a Nomination: New York, May 1872

  Frederick Douglass: Speech at New York City, September 25, 1872

  Grant Over Greeley: New York, September 1872

  James S. Pike: South Carolina Prostrate, March 29, 1873

  “A descent into barbarism”: South Carolina, February 1873

  Ulysses S. Grant: Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1873

  Washington, D.C., March 1873

  THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION, 1873–1877

  Levi Nelson and Benjamin Brim: Testimony in the Colfax Massacre Trial, New Orleans, February 27 and March 3, 1874

  “Dead men all around me”: Louisiana, April 1873

  Robert Brown Elliott: Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, January 6, 1874

  “Perfect equality before the law”: Washington, D.C., January 1874

  New York Herald: General Grant’s New Departure, January 20, 1874

  “I am tired of this nonsense”: Washington, D.C., January 1874

  Richard Harvey Cain: Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, January 24, 1874

  “A nation of croakers”: Washington, D.C., January 1874

  James T. Rapier: Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, June 9, 1874

  “I am treated as a pariah”: Washington, D.C., June 1874

  William Lloyd Garrison to the Boston Journal, September 3, 1874

  “A reign of terror”: Massachusetts, September 1874

  Eugene Lawrence to Harper’s Weekly, October 31, 1874

  “A war of intimidation”: Louisiana, October 1874

  Isaac Loveless to Ulysses S. Grant, November 9, 1874

  A Black Veteran’s Appeal: Tennessee, November 1874

  Ulysses S. Grant: from Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1874

  Washington, D.C., December 1874

  Philip H. Sheridan to William W. Belknap, January 4 and 5, 1875

  Suppressing Terrorism: Louisiana, January 1875

  Carl Schurz: from Speech in the Senate on Louisiana, January 11, 1875

  “A gross and manifest violation”:
Washington, D.C., January 1875

  William Lloyd Garrison to the Boston Journal, January 12, 1875

  Defending Grant and Sheridan: Massachusetts, January 1875

  Ulysses S. Grant: Message to the Senate on Louisiana, January 13, 1875

  Washington, D.C., January 1875

  John R. Lynch: from Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, February 3, 1875

  Social Rights and Public Rights: Washington, D.C., February 1875

  Thomas Whitehead: from Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, February 3, 1875

  “His condition cannot be altered”: Washington, D.C., February 1875

  Charles A. Eldredge: Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, February 4, 1875

  “The pride of blood and race”: Washington, D.C., February 1875

  James A. Garfield: from Speech in Congress on the Civil Rights Bill, February 4, 1875

  “This act of plain justice”: Washington, D.C., February 1875

  Hinds County Gazette: How to Meet the Case, August 4, 1875

  An Election Plan: Mississippi, August 1875

  Ulysses S. Grant to Edwards Pierrepont, September 13, 1875

  “The whole public are tired out”: New Jersey, September 1875

  Edwards Pierrepont to Adelbert Ames, September 14, 1875

  Refusing an Appeal for Aid: Washington, D.C., September 1875

  Sarah A. Dickey to Ulysses S. Grant, September 23, 1875

  “A kind of guerrilla war”: Mississippi, September 1875

  Margaret Ann Caldwell: Testimony to the Select Senate Committee, June 20, 1876

  Murder in Hinds County: Mississippi, September–December 1875

  Albion W. Tourgée: Root, Hog, or Die, c. 1876

  The Failure of Reconstruction: North Carolina, 1876

  John R. Lynch: Speech in Congress on Mississippi, February 10, 1876

  Defending Republican Rule: Washington, D.C., February 1876

  Ulysses S. Grant to Daniel H. Chamberlain, July 26, 1876

  The “Barbarous” Hamburg Massacre: Washington, D.C., July 1876

  The Nation: The South in the Canvass. The Nation, July 27, 1876

  Republican Corruption: New York, July 1876

  Robert G. Ingersoll: from Speech at Indianapolis, September 21, 1876

  “Every one was a Democrat”: Indiana, September 1876

  David Brundage to Ulysses S. Grant, October 14, 1876

  Intimidation at the Polls: Georgia, October 1876

  Rutherford B. Hayes: Diary, November 12, 1876

  The Election Results: Ohio, November 1876