Category Archives: Reconstruction

blame “universal” suffrage

Posted on March 20, 2015 by SUMPTER

Monday morning 150 years ago a Richmond paper seemed to blame the war on universal suffrage (free white men did not need property to have the right to vote). Abolitionists were tame before universal suffrage. The newspaper feared a second … Continue reading →

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foreign matter

Posted on March 19, 2015 by SUMPTER

150 years ago today on March 19, 1865 The New-York Times disagreed with foreigners who believed that the defeat of the main Southern armies would only mean the beginning of a protracted guerrilla war. The Times confidently predicted the breaking … Continue reading →

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hold the applause

Posted on March 11, 2015 by SUMPTER

self-congratulatory applause, that is The following seems to have been published right around Inauguration Day 1865. Several Northern cities apparently held celebrations for recent victories and to mark President Lincoln’s second inauguration. New York’s was postponed two days because of … Continue reading →

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neither snow nor rain …

Posted on March 9, 2015 by SUMPTER

but a rebellion might slow it down some About three weeks after federal troops occupied Charleston U.S. mail service had resumed from that city. From The New-York Times March 7, 1865: The First Mail from Charleston. PHILADELPHIA, Monday, March 6. … Continue reading →

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