Category Archives: Postbellum Politics

Laurels to the Chief

The Panic of 1873 led to a long-lasting depression in Europe and North America. In early 1874 Congress passed a bill that would expand the supply of paper currency not redeemable in gold. On April 22, 1874 President Ulysses. S. … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, The Grant Administration | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Staunch in the Senate

150 years ago today U.S. Senator Charles Sumner died in his Washington, D.C. home. He had represented Massachusetts in the Senate since 1851. In its March 28, 1874 issue Harper’s Weekly praised Mr. Sumner for his strong anti-slavery leadership: CHARLES … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Week, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

house still divided?

150 years ago Harper’s Weekly published a brief bio of a member of the 43rd Congress. From its February 14, 1874 issue of : THE HON. ROBERT B. ELLIOTT. The South Carolina district that for many years sent JOHN C. … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Month, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on house still divided?

new governor

It was a new year with a new governor for Virginia. 150 years ago a Richmond newspaper looked back with appreciation on the exiting governor – even though he was a northerner – and looked forward to the incoming governor … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

muted celebration?

Recently National Review compared and contrasted The United States and Britain: “Every nation needs a mythic anchor. Ours is our revolutionary self-founding. Britain is its longer, slower maturation.” Eight years after the Civil War ended a Southern newspaper didn’t feel … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, American Culture, American History, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

spreading the news

As the American Civil War ended, federal troops took control of Galveston, Texas. On June 19, 1865 General Gordon Granger used a military order to announce that more than two years earlier President Abraham freed the slaves in Texas and … Continue reading

Posted in Aftermath, American Culture, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Slavery, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

peaceful transfer

The South had its Fire-Eaters, the North had John A. Dix. While briefly serving as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury for a time before Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration, John Dix sent a telegram to Treasury agents in New Orleans ordering them … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Postbellum Politics, The Election of 1872, Veterans | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

street murder

150 years ago last month a white man shot and killed a black man in public on Election Day in Philadelphia. In it’s October 28th Harper’s Weekly summarized the murder. In an editorial a week later the paper seemed to … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

another glorious day

From the July 8, 1871 issue of Harper’s Weekly: An editorial commented on the picture – the Fourth of a July was customarily a noisy, boisterous, and often dangerous holiday: ____________________________ A week later the editors still found the Fourth … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago This Week, Aftermath, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

ebony and ivory

According to Wikipedia, Mississippi “was readmitted to the Union on January 11, 1870, and its representatives and senators were seated in Congress on February 23, 1870.”[*the dates are questionable] Although both new senators were Republicans and non-native Mississipians, one was … Continue reading

Posted in 150 Years Ago, 150 Years Ago This Month, 150 Years Ago This Week, Postbellum Politics, Postbellum Society, Reconstruction, Southern Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment