Category Archives: Postbellum Politics

“a dirty Yankee trick”

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 30, 1865: Arrival of Captain Semmes. Washington, December29. –Captain Semmes arrived here last night by the train from New York, in charge of a guard of United States Marines, and was at once taken … Continue reading

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General Grant reports

150 years ago this week reports by President Johnson and General Grant on the condition of the South were published. From The New-York Times December 20, 1865: THE THIRTY-NINTH CONGRESS; Important Message from the President on Reconstruction. He Favors the … Continue reading

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legislation without representation …

It is neither right nor safe for any part of the country to legislate for another part of the country without giving it any voice in that legislation. Representation is the vital principle of republican institutions. 150 years ago today … Continue reading

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delegation from the unknown

From the Richmond Daily Dispatch December 13, 1865: Associated Press dispatches. Congressional proceedings. Washington, December12. –Senate.–Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, offered a resolution, which was referred to the Judiciary Committee, declaring that whereas there is no longer rebellion in the limits … Continue reading

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freed from Fort Warren …

but confined to Georgia On March 21, 1861 new Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens delivered his well-known Cornerstone Speech in which he praised the Confederate Constitution and maintained that the new government was based on racial inequality: Our new … Continue reading

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“We must accept our own ideas”

No man is fit to be an American statesman who is afraid of American ideas. Liberty is the boon of every man, and it carries with it civil rights and citizenship…. We must accept our own ideas. I believe in … Continue reading

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“Is this Democratic?”

150 years ago today Daniel Sickles wrote a letter to Hugh Judson Kilpatrick criticizing the New Jersey Democrat 1865 platform (see last section of the linked post). Moreover, New Jersey Democrats were even lagging behind South Carolina: The party in … Continue reading

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“their sudden emancipation”

It’s going on six months since federal troops won the Battle of Fort Blakely on April 9, 1865 and a few days later occupied Mobile, Alabama. It is written that “The siege and capture of Fort Blakely was basically the … Continue reading

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nullified?

150 years ago today the South Carolina state constitutional convention repealed the December 20, 1860 Ordinance of Secession. From The New-York Times September 19, 1865: THE SOUTH CAROLINA CONVENTION.; Repeal of the Ordinance of Secession. BOSTON, Monday, Sept. 18. The … Continue reading

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It’s up to Uncle Sam

For, disguise it as we may, the United States government really holds and exercises the power which gives vitality to the preliminaries of reconstruction, and it is therefore responsible for all evils in the future which shall spring from its … Continue reading

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